Thursday, October 20, 2011

Become immortal

One of humankind’s biggest obsessions is to become immortal. From time immemorial, we have had various people trying to increase longevity. Indian mythology is full of stories of people who have undergone severe penances to achieve this goal. Most of the people have been failures in this quest.

It also seems pointless to become immortal when we are living in a body subject to various ailments and illness. With a no-so-perfect physical body, it would seem that it is better to die than live on forever. As we grow older, our bodies steadily decay and deteriorate. Our sense organs begin to fail. Under such circumstances, would not death be a welcome state to progress into?

Despite this, our scientists want to fight nature and work on increasing the youth span as well as life itself. Very few people appreciate death. Very few realise that death is a natural way of the renewal process. Life is sustained and re-created only due to the certainty of death.

Yet, there is a way to become immortal. We become immortal when we lead lives that are perfect in every way; when we epitomise values in every breath of ours; when people look up to us to show the right way; when our lives are shining examples of love, compassion, selflessness, truthfulness and integrity.

The world will forever remember people who stood steadfast in the midst of adversity to uphold values. The legendary child Prahalad, the son of demon King Hiranyakashipu, despite being threatened with death did not forsake His Lord. Raja Harishchandra protected truth and honesty despite immense suffering. Mother Sita suffered for long but upheld her loyalty and commitment to her Lord Rama. There are many such inspiring and powerful stories of how people became immortal through their display of sterling characters.

We too can become immortal in this manner. All we need to do is to uphold values at all or any cost.