The Dead Body

The Dead Body

Who is ready to die on this earth with smiling face when the bells of Lord Yama rings on? We all want to live forever  and wants to achieve more and more within the short span of life on this earth. But the truth is that we all have to pass through this so called the gate of "Death" to complete the circle of life in this samsara.  Having visited the Thimphu cremation ground many times for the death rituals of my relatives and family members remind me of one day I have to follow the same path as they are doing in front of me. Sleeping in the icy cold rooms and waiting for many nights in the cremation ground due to some inauspicious omens sent from astrological calculations along with dead bodies line up to be cremated by the monks stationed as free service to the public by the central monastic body. Seeing the tears rolling down from the eyes of relatives for the lost soul and mind. Hearing loud noise of deep cry in front of the dead bodies melted away my heart into pieces. However, I tried to keep my emotions controlled in front of the crowds. From the deep of my heart, I am also crying along with the relatives and family members for the dead ones. I know, it is really painful moments in our life to face with. 

The passing away of my beloved father in my village taught me the greatest lessons in my life to accept the death as natural process even though we really feel uncomfortable as said and done.  Watching my father passing away in front of us was  really painful  and tearful moment. Huge crowds gathered to moan with me but we have to no choice but let him go away from the family life. Thinking of such events really makes me tearful and chokes my breathing. To accept the truth is very painful and beyond our human level. Everyone crying for his sad departure made the my house looked like cremation ground. Oh! my father, though you passed away many years back but I still remember you in heart and mind. My sincere and humble prayers are always with you to meet once more as son and father in the generations to come. With your deep wishes and prayers, my dreams are fulfilled and I am still gearing towards the success in life which has of no use when I follow your path. Will I leave any legacies behind? My success could be like the castle built on the sky? My father, you have taught me the greatest lesson in my life to accept the truth which I am not used to it. 

The reality in this life is that we all human beings are afraid of dead bodies to touch and feel it. It creates lot of fear and terrible events to watch on even. The real fact is, when we are alive, we love our body so much and cared with many cosmetics to look beautiful and handsome. Due to the aging and misfortunes, we have to depart from our body. How come that we cared, tendered and loved so much suddenly becomes our fearful object known as "Dead body" who has no life on it. From where does dead body come or erupted then? From the heaven or hell? No, it our own body that served us well when it was healthy and strong. It was our lovely home for the mind and soul to rest during the brief stay on this earth. There is nothing to be afraid of dead bodies, but we should pay our homage for it served us well before we get departed due to the exhaustion of life force. There is thin line between alive and dead body. Just a matter of breathing makes us alive as human beings and the moment breathing stops, we are declared as dead and gone clinically.

Watching the dead bodies being burnt with angry fire engulfing rapidly in their respective pots downsizing the bodies into ashes after three hours. The movements of monks throwing different ritualistic items on to the fire followed by prayers chanted by a Lama of the dead ritual. It was another dream that I was dreaming; since there is nothing left out of my dead ones when I realized. Everything has turn into ashes and black coals that we collected to be thrown away into the rivers with heavy hearts. Such is the truth of our life that we cling so much and toil to become rich and successful not knowing one day we have to leave everything behind and turn into ashes. If it is the case, what is the point of struggling to become rich and successful person? Will I see you (dead ones) again in this human form? For you have lost all your bodily identity being burnt into ashes. The smile that I have seen before you die was the last memory that I could carry now as my relative in the form of human life. No where to point out and catch hold of you, even now the ashes are gone with the rivers. The legacies that you left are like the scripts written on the sand banks washed away immediately.

The so called our human life filled with wrath, jealousy, angry and sloth ends with leaving no traces to be seen when it is snatched away by the powerful Death. Did we really lived the happy and contended life or we wasted out life completely in the process of searching for wealth and power? It is just a food for thought to all human beings to explore oneself and realize the facts of life rather than racing to become business tycoon and famous leaders with power for few years. The choice is in our hands to make it happier or doomed our life in the quest of wealth, fame  and power which has little value when it turns into ashes?

Written by: Mindu Wangdi