Why This Heedlessness of Death?

Why This Heedlessness of Death? seeing others die but refuse to recognize that they too will die one day. To understand this point, consider this account about the late Russi Karanjia, a famous Indian journalist. Born in a Parsi family, he became a trendsetter in sensational journalism. He was considered on par with journalists like Khushwant Singh and Dom Moraes. He worked as a war correspondent in the Second World War. In 1941, he founded his weekly magazine, Blitz, on which the following motto used to appear: ‘Free, Frank and Fearless’. He had contacts with many important people, like India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia, President Abdul Nasser of Egypt and the Shah of Iran. Russi Karanjia suffered a heart attack twice. He died in a hospital in February 2000 in Mumbai. At that time, he was 92. A report in The Times of India (February 2, 2008), related that before his death “the only thing he complained about was that the nurses’ skirts were not short enough”. At that time Mr. Karanjia was on his death-bed. He had almost reached death’s doorstep. But even at that moment what he was obsessing about was that the skirts of the hospital’s nurses were not short enough—while actually what at that moment he should really have been concerned about was what his condition would be after death. The reason why he didn’t think as he ought to have was lack of awareness, including about the reality of death. He was unable to rise above the way he had been programmed to think. Hence, even in his last moments he remained unaware of the reality of death. In the Quran, the Prophet’s mission is described as inzar, or to give warning—that is, to remove people’s unawareness and make them aware of the reality of life. Since we have no idea at all when we will die, most people rarely, if it all, think about death or recognize that they too will die one day. So, they live as if they will live forever. We need to overcome this unawareness so as to lead a life that will bring us true success,