Life and Death: Activate the Cycle Of Good Karma

By J P Vaswani

"Why are we here?" asked a boy of his mother. "Why, to help others, of course," she replied. "And what are the others here for?" asked the boy. The mother had no answer.

The others, especially the needy, are there so that we can extend to them a helping hand. One day, as William Gladstone was preparing a speech he was to deliver in parliament, he was called to visit a dying boy. When he returned to the writing of his speech, he said: "That speech may fail or not; but in helping that boy I have tasted exquisite joy."

The opposite of love is not hate: it is apathy, indifference. Today, people are becoming increasingly indifferent to the needs of those around them. American novelist Henry James advised his nephew, Billy: "Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind." So let's do all we can to give happiness to as many as we can for it comes back to us.

The Gita declares lokasangraha or welfare of the people, as being a part of every man's duty. Sadhu Vaswani would ask: "Did you meet him on the road? "Did you leave him with the load?" On the road of life we meet many who carry more than physical loads - their minds are burdened with fear, worry, anxiety, depression and guilt.

One day, as Sadhu Vaswani took a walk on the roadside, he found a beggar lying underneath a tree. The beggar's clothes were tattered and torn: his feet were stained with mud.

With his own hands, Sadhu Vaswani bathed the body of the beggar and passed on to him his own shirt to wear. The beggar pointed to the cap which was on Sadhu Vaswani's head. Without the least hesitation, he gave the cap to the beggar and said: "The shirt and the cap and everything I have is a loan given to me to be passed on to those whose need is greater than mine!"

Everything we have, our time and talents, our education and influence, our wealth and possessions, our health and strength, life itself, is a loan given to us to be passed on to those whose need is greater than ours.

A woman lost her husband whom she loved dearly. She was plunged into the depths of sorrow. For months together, she did not know what it was to smile. One day, she happened to look out of the window and found two poor children in the street below. Their feet were bare, and clothes, tattered.

She came out of her mansion and asked them: "Who are your parents?" "We are orphans," they answered. "Who takes care of you?" she asked. And they said: "The neighbours give us little things from time to time and we somehow survive." Forgetting her sorrow, she took the children to a departmental store and said to them: "Take what you will, dresses, shoes, eatables, anything you like!"

The children could not believe it - their joy knew no bounds, and something of their joy stole into the heart of the woman. She forgot her grief and for the first time in many months, her face was wreathed in smiles.

In the measure in which we make others happy, in that measure, and many times over, happiness travels to us. We pass through this world but once. Any good thing that we can do, or any kindness that we can show to a fellow-being, let us do it now. Let us not defer it or neglect it, for we may not pass this way again.

.

.

See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul

To get an overview of all archives, see: Hinduism Archives, Buddhism Archives, Yoga Archives, Sanskrit Archives