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SANGEETA BRAJABASI

SongSoptok | 11/15/2016 |



I go to sleep every night with an assurance to wake up to a new dawn . My familiar moon sings a lullaby to my weary soul and puts me to sleep at night. At dawn my sun fills my bed with light and warmth. The fresh whiff of air nudges me gently to start the day. This is my universe, from the first day of my existence I have lived in the warm bosom of this world. The sun, stars, galaxies, milky ways, though far and unknown, are not completely beyond the periphery of human knowledge. Theories of astronomy, astrophysics can always come up with measurable distances in light years, reasons why they glow, why they disappear to human eyes, it can all be explained by science. Knowledge gives explainable theories and in turn it brings a cozy comfort of familiarity. My comfort with the known world around me makes me blind to the possibility of the existence of any other realm beyond the one I perceive.

What if I do not wake up in this familiar world tomorrow ? What if I open my eyes and find myself in a new realm? The realm of the astral world. Will it be a dark endless abyss of oblivion or a lighted path of awakens? But why must it be either of the two extremes. Must I burn in hell or suddenly develop two wings like a fairy to keep floating in space? If my Karma is going to follow me beyond death then a great amount of managerial task will be required to sort out all the good and bad karma either in heaven or hell. If I am assured business class luxury post death then I am ready to turn a saint this minute. The problem is who will give me the promise and the boarding pass to my final destination. Thus in absence of a true travel manager I go on living in belief and disbelief about stories of afterlife.

It is rest that I seek once I shut my eyes after toiling for years on earth. What is Moksha after all, to gain ultimate freedom? But if I have to keep floating above my old home witnessing everything like a reality show on TV as a mere spectator, then the floating as a spirit can be very frustrating. The fun in worldly existence is in participation! If my flight has a better take off (as a spirit) and I manage to climb beyond the stratosphere, then will I meet them whom I call my forefathers. Can I be related to them even after death? If I can recognize my own people but I have no human feelings then the charm of reunion shall be totally spoiled. On the other hand, if I am a spirit with all the pain, joy, anguish of my human form, then dying does not seem half as attractive as promised.

This and much more crowd in my mind. There are more questions than answers. On waking up to a new reality much larger than my comprehension of life and death, how am I supposed to react? Birth, life, and death, are all familiar situations. Is death the final full stop? The body turning to ashes, melting, decaying, into the earth is the closure of one chapter. The thing we call soul, where or how does it vanish? The fear of unknown grips my consciousness. Through vast cultural differences in this world there is one common thread that binds all humanity that is to respect the dead. We light lamps, we pay homage, we pray for the spirits eternal union with the Divine. Whether the spirits do receive our symbolic gestures, or whether all the gestures are to quieten our inner chaos is not an easy answer.

If I see a light where there is none, if I feel the breeze in a closed room, if I see a form not familiar, I shall not fear. For today I am in my human form, and tomorrow I may be just a spirit. So why fear my own tomorrow? We all have our own guardian angels within us. Sleep will come one day which will lead me to the final awakening.


[SANGEETA BRAJABASI]

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