On The Way

On The Way

1990 10 October 19 On The Way (353) Darbara Singh, a leader of the Punjab and also Chief Minister of the State, died on March 11, 1990 at the age of 75. According to a news item in the Hindu (March 12, 1990), he was in New Delhi when he suffered a severe heart attack. He was immediately taken to the Batra Hospital but he died on the way.

When I was going through this news item, I felt that this was the story of not just one individual but of all human beings. Everyone is on his way to some place or the other, but everyone dies ‘on his way’. Everyone wants to build the world of his dreams, but no one’s dream is ever truely fulfilled. In a state of regret and depression, the man of ambition, the keen aspirant, leaves this world for the other world.

In the town of Azamgarh in the state of U.P. there lived a Raja named Harakh Chand. Some time prior to 1947, he started building a palatial house in the city. The work on the house continued for many years, but it could not be finished during his lifetime. He finally left this world without having seen its completion. In like manner, everyone is building a ‘house’ to his own liking and those who do not have the wherewithal to build a house of their own endeavour to usurp their fellows rights in orders to possess one for themselves.

But finally, everyone is rendered homeless. Someone’s house is shattered by an earthquake. Another is separated from his house by the Angel of Death. Everyone is dying on his way. No one reaches the destination of his choice.

In this world, man is fated to die on the way. Here, no one has it in his power to reach his desired goal. The reason is that this world is only a pathway; it is not a destination. Man’s ultimate stopping place is the life after death. It is therefore a wise man who regards the world as a place only to be passed through on the way to his true destination – the Hereafter.

The world is but a drop in the ocean of eternity

1990 10 October 19 The world is but a drop in the ocean of eternity (37) AI-Mastaurid Ibn Shaddad heard the Prophet say: “The world, in comparison to eternity, is like one of you putting his finger in the ocean. What does he take with him when he brings his finger out?”

(Muslim)