Beyond Death

Beyond Death

1991 1 January 16 Beyond Death (262) M.S. Oberoi is the most distinguished personality in the hotel business in India. He owns a hotel empire, not only in many cities in India, but also in other countries where his hotels are being run with great success. Mr. Oberoi was born on August 15, 1900 in a small village, Bhanu, in the district of Jhelum, which now forms a part of Pakistan. Now, at 90, he lives on a farm on the outskirts of Delhi. He says: “My farm is my refuge and gives me solace.” Reflecting on his life he concludes:

In the evening of life, I have few regrets and there is comfort in knowing that I have been able to, in my humble way, help people in need and that whatever I have achieved has also helped to raise the prestige of my country. What more could any man have wished for?

Reflecting upon these words, I began to think that one who has lived for his country must feel that, in his extreme old age, he is about to leave behind everything that he ever lived for. On the contrary, one who has lived for God will feel in his last days that the Being he has lived for is there, before him. While the former will find only a vacuum beyond death, the latter will find a whole new world full of hope.

Then shouldn’t man live for God? Why should he live for something other than God, if, at the bitter end, all that is left to him is his own sense of frustration?