WRITER

A writer is one who writes. It may be a poem, story, essay, drama, novella, television serial, documentary, scripts for various purposes, copy for advertising, novel, dialogues or any piece of writing meant to be read and understood by readers of some standards and places. Writing is one of fine arts meant for educating and entertaining readers, nominally or extensively. What is written may be short or long. It may or may not be popular. Writers seek pleasure and fulfillment in writing on a wide variety of topics based on their interests, passions and dreams or because of being compelled or commissioned by others for various reasons. I think broadly writers are of two kinds; ghost writers and writers. The creative works of ghost writers get sold to or immorally used by rich and influential folks in a field for some reasons. Writers of all other kinds directly or indirectly get the credit for what they created. The essential qualities of a writer are, generally, command of language, knowledge on the topic to be written, creative excellence, imaginative bent of mind, understanding about the contemporary society and trends, patience, idealism, optimism and rational or irrational love for this world.

I would present the uniqueness of writers, according to my basic understanding, about them.

1. Writers may be considered as ones suffering from multiple personality disorder from a medical point of view. They create various characters, locales and events to express their ideas through them. All those characters have unique identities of their own, which influence and attract readers deeply. One writer assumes the positions of a lover, beloved, singer, musician, warrior, dancer, dreamer, terrorist, rapist, killer, scientist, lawyer, doctor, lunatic, farmer, social reformer, saint, God, devotee, prostitute, visionary, fighter, protester, driver, apostle, priest, man, woman, boy, girl, infant, dog, dove, mosquito, housefly, bacteria, virus, ghost, soul, body, sky, sea, pond, comedian, flower, underground, space, patient, victim, pauper, millionaire, thief, police, lawyer, UFO …what not. He can think like anybody or anything in this world. So, as a writer, he or she has no distinct personality or identity. His or her thoughts keep changing based on the nature of work being created. Thus, writer may be considered as one suffering from different psychological disorders. If we assess writer positively, he is omnipresent and omnipotent. He is everywhere observing your thoughts and behavior. He has immeasurable psychological strength that you cannot defeat him with any weapons as long as he is healthy. As such, he is a miracle living among us simply!

2. They may need special environment to create the best. Some like writing at night, some sitting by sea, some at graveyard, some in a forest, some in journey, some while with a prostitute, some smoking, some listening to music, some dancing, some on bed, some on computer…If there are 100 exceptional writers in a given area, there may be 100 different settings, which encourage them to write in the best way possible for them. It means stimulants are needed, in most of the cases, for writers to write extraordinarily, on their favourite subjects or on those imposed by others in different contexts. I presume that absolute silence at night; complete solitude and extraordinary instrumental music on play somewhere nearby are the ones that elevate writers to the desired plane of writing to a great extent, though we cannot generalize it. Writers do not like anybody or anything disturbing them (including their family members and God) while they are passionately involved in their process of creative writing.

3. They write about those about whom or which you know a little or very well but they write in such a way that you feel completely involved in those characters and developments in a piece of writing so passionately that you forget the real world for those few moments. A great writer is one, who chases you psychologically for days, weeks, months or years, based on the uniqueness and greatness of what he or she wrote creatively. You must feel scared to meet him or her if they come across you suddenly. You must feel a deep sense of love, respect and admiration in their presence. They must have written such works, which could change your thoughts substantially.

4. Many writers do not like even their actual names being known to their readers. They use pen names to hide their real identity of gender, region, language, religion and other aspects of their personality. How silly it is! Many ordinary people also crave identification and appreciation for what they did, however small and negligible it may be. Creators of great works, not desiring to be identified and appreciated so, is a wonder in the domain of writers. They are like bountiful nature from this perspective. Trees give fruits but do not expect appreciation from us. Sun and moon bless us with essential light but never expect something back from us. These writers belong to that world of thoughts and ideals. They want to serve others silently. They hate shallow publicity and popularity.

5. I believe that those writing stories, dialogues and lyrics for feature films and those writing dialogues for television serials are the greatest writers in this world now. They present those characters and dialogues among them so impressively and powerfully that we listen to them like school kids without making noise. There must be love, hero, heroine, villain and some other characters in every feature film but each film must be unique to attract a large base of viewers to cinemas across places. Those, writing for feature films, have got such extraordinary skills in creative writing. We are considering some feature films as masterpieces, partly because of the dialogues and songs also in it. They impress, educate and inspire you so deeply that you can never forget those characters and dialogues between characters. Then, we know about many television serials, which last for one to five years also. They make every single episode very interesting and engrossing and keep you pushing towards anxiously waiting for the following episodes on and on. I know about a number of Telugu television serials, which have these characteristics. I find those characters, scenes, dialogues and twists very interesting and inspiring. I accord the highest degree of greatness, as creative thinkers and writers, on those, who are writing dialogues for such long and enticing television serials in all Indian languages. Those dialogues are extraordinary. They represent the realities in our society powerfully. They have to remember every character, its gradual progression towards the next episodes, for many months and make every episode very interesting to viewers. How many stories and dialogues are they creating regularly to attract millions of television viewers? How many of us can do it? I cannot write that many influential and touching dialogues for so many episodes of a serial. They are masters of creativity and humanity. They are educating and entertaining us extraordinarily. My salutes to all those hundreds of television serial writers, who are attracting viewers in every house, with their words of magic, logic, divinity and excellence. I consider 98% of the present Telugu television serials extraordinary. Each is different from the other. Each is interesting. I don’t know which I should miss and which I should watch because each is superb on its own. Never remark casually that television serials are spoiling the present generations. You can read the Bhagavad Gita only if you don’t like those serials. You are watching them because those artistes are beautiful, those stories are gripping and those dialogues are very touching and inspiring. Appreciate their extraordinary talent and patience if you are sensible. If you are senseless, keep silent. It is more than necessary.

6. Lyricists of feature films are another great race of creative writers. Choose any 100 best films you like in any language you know and identify why you like those films. Imagine the worth of a feature film without songs in it. Dialogue writers and lyricists deserve half of the credit that belongs to any classic feature film because they describe life extraordinarily in those songs and dialogues, in a few relevant but powerful words. I can live happily watching feature films for 50 years. I have that many extraordinary feature films in this world to watch. It means feature films have such great impact on sensible people also. Writers created such masterpieces with their words of immense value over the years. They are wizards of words.

7. Most of the writers desire to be simple in their look. You cannot understand the worth of a writer looking at him or her for a few minutes or for a year continuously. Read what they have written to understand them perfectly. Tell them about anything you know. They write on it within seconds. They impress you with their words. All those words may not have logic and meaning at all but they work like magic on you instantly. This is the power of creative writers, who create powerful words to change society rapidly and radically.

8. All good writers may not be so good at personal level when you observe them closely, if possible. They also have the hardships, weaknesses, demerits and pains like ordinary human beings but they don’t allow the forces of their personal lives to deface the integrity and excellence of their creative written pieces. They command you with their words, often suffering silently in their personal lives. Most of them have high degrees of self-respect. They don’t beg you for food or money even when they are bedridden and are at the verge of death. It is the moral responsibility of a society or country to honor writers proactively because they are partly representatives of God. When everybody is worrying and working for himself or herself, writers worry and write about those issues and themes, which belong and influence humanity at large. They are the royal challengers and dreamers of this world. If they die in poor conditions or pathetic situations, it is a blot on the contemporary civilization and culture. Where writers are neglected and humiliated, there society remains barbaric and tragic. Writers are guides of humanity. Neglecting to read their great writings is like neglecting to understand our mother, siblings, society and country. We suffer and perish soon in such environment. Writers are visionaries and idealists. They think and worry about you when you are playing carelessly and sleeping innocently. Follow their advice to be safe and comfortable always. There are innumerable morals and guidelines in those writings. Read them continuously to become a great human being. A beautiful girl should not desire to sleep in the house of an extraordinary male writer (on spiritual aspects of life) because opposite genders attract each other so powerfully that one of them or both of them fall prey to that temptation. Writers create extraordinary pieces in an elevated state of their minds. They may not maintain that lifestyle and thought process always. There are many evil forces in their minds and bodies. Ordinary human beings should not desire to spend with them always. You cannot witness their power of evil or idealism at times directly. God creates this universe. Writers are his disciples in this world. Both are dangerous now and then.

9. Professional and academic writers write on many themes and topics referring to various other related or unrelated works because academic world needs proofs for everything. Though academic and professional writers also apply much of their originality and creativity in writing books and research papers and works of that order, they don’t get appreciated by larger world as it happens in the case of works written exclusively depending on one’s creativity. One, who writes an extraordinary lyric or a few pages of dialogues for a feature film, drama or documentary, without talking to anybody or referring to any work, gets more appreciated, than one who writes a long book referring to many other works. It means originality and creativity have more value in the field of writing than the ones that are written after research. Many Ph.D. scholars are there in this world but how many of us know about them but we know well about many lyricists and writers because we have more interest in creative writers than research scholars. Innovations and dreams have more value and history than imitation and logic in this world in all ages!

10. Most of us like writers more than scientists and doctors because we enjoy living in beautiful lies and blissful dreams rather than understanding bitter realities professed by scholars and visionaries of scientific order. Writers weave dreams, imaginations, lies and sell them to all like gold and platinum. Otherwise why should all of us see that many feature films and dramas knowing that they are all purely lies and creative machinations of writers? Why should we read so many books of fiction instead of reading books discussing realities and history of our race? The same writers can educate and inspire you so powerfully through portraying reality around you that you may rush to the Himalayas to meditate God, just reading a powerful book, leaving this material world suddenly. Writers are capable of doing anything. They deliver a drop of the sea flowing in them. Take what you like and leave the rest!

11. It is impossible for many writers to say how they became great writers. They don’t know how that creative process occurs and influences them to create masterpieces. They can describe a little part of it but never completely about it. It’s a magic on them. They sit with the idea of writing on one thing but end up with something else completely different. They wish to write 10 pages of content but may not be able to move up to two pages also at times. They plan to write a few words on something but may be pulled to write 100 pages in that direction. Creative process is like a flood. It takes birth somewhere, sometime, somehow in one’s mind and he cannot control how forcefully it flows out and chases him thereafter. It drags him on and on. What he can put in words is just a fraction of it. Much of the creative excellence in a writer remains hidden always. It can never be expressed in words because like soul, creative wonders cannot be made tangible to be seen and felt by mortals. So, never evaluate any writer based on what he could or could not write. He is a mystery to himself. He is not in his control.

12. Some writers are known to many and many are not known. Known writers may not be extraordinary and unknown ones ordinary. In many cases, those that never appeared to us as writers, may be many times superior to the writers we are seeing around us. Various factors and forces hinder many writers from getting public and popular. We should not decide the worth of a writer based on the quantity of works produced by him but their quality. ‘How much influence could they make on a civilization and culture, temporarily or in the long run’ is perhaps the right criterion to assess the worth of a writer. If a book became the cause of a revolution in a country, within weeks or months, it may be considered a classic for that period of time. Great books influence a large number of people so powerfully that they change social and cultural order completely now and then. Some books have such power that they keep inspiring generation after generation for centuries together.

13. If a writer took many months or years to write a book, aiming at an award or prize, never consider such pieces of work as worthy creative works. Creative writers seldom have plans and policies in their lives. They write depending on their strong internal creative force. They write on such subjects and themes, which challenge and chase them but not minding the demands of the contemporary trends and crazy readers. They feel intuitively to write on something, without consulting anybody, or being influenced by a genre or movement of their times.

14. Writers suffer with a burden of innumerable thoughts and imaginations meant for others. They do not appear you cheerfully always with a smile on their face to satisfy you artificially. Various thoughts keep flowing in their psyche regularly. This is why they maintain a serious posture most of the times. They are like fire of thoughts and imaginations. You cannot comprehend them unless you are also an extraordinary writer. Most of the great writers are extraordinary thinkers and visionaries. They can change the order of the world within months if you give political power to them but no civilization ever did so. Criminals and rogues crave political power but not intellectual cream of a society. Writers become leaders only if others invite them sincerely and helplessly. They don’t like to salute everybody for shallow political power because they have tons of self-esteem. They can live happily in a deep forest also, leaving everybody else within seconds but they live among others to somehow change them, through their creative outpouring and idealism. They spend most of their time thinking and worrying for others when all others are treating them as buffoons and eccentric idiots. Only writers have such extraordinary balance of mind in this world. They know about every bitter reality in society and life. They try to console contemporary societies through their beautiful lies because they cannot witness pain around them. They struggle to treat the psychological disorders and demerits of humanity through their words of healing and magic.

15. Even extraordinary writers may be cheated by an innocent boy or a mischievous girl in a village. They are masters of thoughts, imaginations and dreams but not great businessmen. They apply their creativity and intelligence in their writings to serve others greatly but not extensively in their real lives to be safe and secure from the contemporary trends of frauds and crimes. They are like innocent kids in a way. They keep dreaming of a great world always and forget about the bitter realities around them now and then. When they are in that ideal state of thinking and writing, anybody can cheat them within seconds. They live in various phases of creative excellence at various times in their real lives and so they cannot focus on ordinary things of their lives. They may not be able to swim, ride a bicycle, repair a fan or talk with a convent kid perfectly but they can address five lakh people extraordinarily, preparing speech on their own, within minutes. They are very weak in some aspects of their material life but divine and unbelievable in many aspects of their creative process and instant delivery of it.

16. Great souls take lifetimes as writers to educate and entertain sinners and criminals alike and guide them towards lifelessness, eternal bliss and God. Since God cannot take birth as an ordinary human being regularly for the sake of humanity, he sends a bunch of writers regularly into every region. They reach the message of God to humanity ideally and silently. They don’t like your silly, cruel or stupid talk but innocent and helpless aspects of your life and related expressions. They are innocent kids originally and so like to spend with such creatures only beyond their creative process and related output. They like silence more than anything else because they know that all the sounds and dramas in this world are many times worthless than silence. Absolute silence or classic music allows them to transform themselves into the kind of person they want to become based on what they have to write creatively and powerfully. They know truths about human life and this material world completely. So, they listen to everybody silently allowing them to expose their innocence before them. Most of them do not argue with you on any point because they know about their worth and they don’t expect anybody else to certify them specially. If some writer is talking a lot with you, it means he is going to write something related to what you are speaking or that he loves you personally for some reasons but not just like that. They don’t like the company of other humans much, including their family members. They like animals and birds more than humans because they share the qualities of those pure creatures to a great extent. They like originality and innocence more than anything else in this world. They lead balanced lives most of the time. They don’t bother you much even if you bothered them a lot in the past. Most of good writers forgive you as early as possible. They have no much space in their lifetime and psyche to retaliate against anything or anybody in this world. They know that they came here with a scheduled duty. They choose to finish it fast and disappear silently. Most of them prefer such death, which is not known to anybody. They don’t like even their kin and kith shedding a few tears for them while alive or dead. They don’t crave undue recognition and appreciation anywhere, anytime. They accept the orders of God and their Karma silently and patiently. If you want to understand this world better, just be a friend to a great writer or even servant in his abode of living in a forest. Most of the greatest writers are greatest human beings. To put it in other words, they write about those pains and suffering, which they observed closely or lived personally in their lives. Such idealists and thinkers never cheat or harm you.

17. Never marry a great writer if you want to enjoy your personal life. If you love money, he hates it. If you hate pigs and rats, he keeps admiring them. Many writers are strange creatures. Ordinary girls cannot bear with them in real lives. Admire them from distance. Talk with them for a few minutes only. You cannot live happily with them always because they don’t like spending with you always even if you happen to be a Goddess or extraordinary beauty. Their thoughts drag them to different places and states of mind regularly. They don’t and cannot live according to your selfish and narrow-minded timetables. Never struggle to win them through your rational or irrational arguments. If they decide to blast you, they can argue with you for any number of hours or days on any topic. They kill you if you bother them with crazy questions and insignificant doubts for the fun of it. Be simple and innocent while talking with them. They can assess your feelings, emotions and passions within seconds. Do not appreciate them or admire them to satisfy them artificially. They can identify it through looking at your face or words for a few seconds. They hate you once they know about your real character. They like to spend with an innocent prostitute or helpless criminal rather than a snobby millionaire or hypocritical celebrity. They like genuine human beings, wherever they are. If they are spending with others also a lot, in a period of time, it means they are playing an artificial role for the sake of occasion, not because they personally like that company and glitter of decoration. They are masters of wisdom and vision. Win them with your pure love and attachment for them rather than your costly clothes and tons of gold. They love your spiritual beauty and original character. They appreciate your beauty also deeply if it is original and natural. Most of the writers are admirers of beauty, be it in a woman, nature or anything else. They run after original beauty wherever it is because it inspires them directly or indirectly. After coming away from the brilliant beauty of God, they crave material beauty, as the last resort.

18. Most of the writers like music, dance, sculpture, paintings and any other form of art created originally by a talented or dedicated artist. Art, in its pristine form, wherever it is, inspires writers deeply. They may fall in love with other great artists and artistes in most of the cases because one magnet can only assess the worth of another magnet. So, if you want to attract and marry an artist of extraordinary talent, be yourself an artist of that order or extremely innocent and submissive at least. They hate extraordinary intelligence in others because they have plenty of it. They like innocence because they leave it after becoming writers, thinking and worrying for others, silently.

19. Writers can make you a Goddess or prostitute within seconds because they have such high degrees of analytic and logical mind. Behave with them properly if you want their friendship. If you have ten points to argue your point, they can invent 100 points to counter it within seconds, while talking with you. So, you cannot win them applying your logical mind. Creativity is the mother of all sciences, logic, reason and arguments. Remember it.

20. All writers may not know how to promote themselves or their works. Some writers chase popularity and fame investing their money, plans and strategies. Fame and fans chase some original writers, slowly or never. We cannot imagine or assess the worth of a writer based on readers he or she could attract in his or her lifetime. Many great writers and their extraordinary works remain unnoticed for years together or they get buried in the huge womb of unkind time. Some writers do not write anything at all because they think that it is futile from many perspectives in a given age. So, some great writers are those who never write anything. If you want to see their worth as writers, challenge them or announce 10 or 20 crore rupees to the best writings. If it pulls them out, you can witness their creative excellence. They can kill you making you read their one short book also. A book can kill you or save you depending on the power of words put in it. Be careful in choosing and reading books. You must be a challenger to read some books written by masters of craft of writing. They create such works only if time demands but not in ordinary conditions or demands around them. Time produces great writers based on its vital needs always. Ordinary societies and trends create shallow writers to meet temporary needs of that age.  

21. Writers teach the world how to think, live and die to make others happy and comfortable. Since readers never take it seriously to follow those guidelines, prepared by masters of idealism and intelligence, pain and disorders continue in all ages. What can a best teacher do if all his students are criminals and sinners to the core? A writer cannot kill his readers because he is sensitive and ideal. Since writers cannot do it, dictators do it. Writers live with hope and trust in people around them always. They write to help and guide others. Others think that writers are poor creatures in many ways. It is like a rich patient taking his kind doctor like a helpless fellow. Every patient assesses the worth of his family doctor based on how much that doctor served to his family but not thousands of other patients whom the doctor would have treated and healed extraordinarily and ideally.

22. Many writers hate a long life but they continue it, if it chases them on and on, to obey the orders of God but not because they like this material world like other ordinary humans. They hate most of material attractions and occurrences but keep writing about them because God imposed that divine duty on them.

23. Writers suffer a lot internally always because they have many doubts and questions about many things happening and appearing in this world. Nobody can satisfy them with their answers to their endless questions and doubts. Creativity is an offshoot of intense suffering, deep thinking, continuous questioning, rigorous flow of doubts and exploration of mysteries and challenges in this world. Death only can provide peace to a real writer.

24. Writers are magicians of words. They apply their unique type of magic through their words to please, irritate, console or educate you. They may not be experts in any language or subject or field of activities but they know how to teach a lot depending on the little education and vocabulary they have.

Let me write a little on how one can become a writer.

1. To be a great writer, you must have physical and mental health completely. You must have a lot of energy, creativity, patience and deep passion for everything happening and appearing in this world. The more you love the drama on the stage of this world, the more you have passion to describe the characters and incidents in that universal drama taking place before you every day and night, the more you can write and influence others.

2. Every great work must be edited substantially to make it into a masterpiece. Poor language dramatically impacts the worth of any written work. If you are poor at language, get it edited by a professional or artist in that field. Generally, if a writer is poor in a language, which he is using, the editor becomes the second writer. He rewrites most of what you wrote to give it a great shape. It means, you deserve only 50% credit of your book and the rest goes to your editor. Every great editor shares much of the fame a book gets because he contributes greatly in beautifying it, language wise, but very few readers bother to know about the editors of books. Even writers do not write about them in their books. It is a crime and sin being committed by many writers in this world.

3. Journalism is a great branch of creative writing because it daily influences readers. Journalists create extraordinary pieces of writing for dailies, weeklies, monthlies and various other periodicals and books. They study and guide social trends critically. If you want to educate and change society powerfully, study journalism and alert all silently. To become a great journalist, you must be able to love a beggar and millionaire alike because you must study everybody in your familiar society and write about them objectively like the judge of a big court. You must have great degrees of patience, intelligence and honesty to become a great journalist. Some may kill you if you excel as an extraordinary journalist because absolute truth seldom got appreciated by fools and criminals in this world. Ordinary readers and nuts like shallow journalists and their useless writings on rich idiots and garbage.

4. Practice writing on and on. Practice is the best guide to make you a great writer in course of time. Writers also move through many phases of understanding human beings, conditions and trends around them before becoming masters of creative writing. The more you learn about others, the more you can influence them through your writings. Creative writing, which never touches realities of a society and tragedy, never becomes classic in any age.

5. Casual readers are the cruelest citizens of a nation. They may like your piece of writing 100% and would have changed their lives altogether but never write to you. They take writers as nuts. Do not expect hundreds of letters of constructive criticism or appreciation from your casual or serious readers. They may or may not write to you. They think that your job is writing amazingly, struggling hard, to satisfy their fancies always and their role is to read that great book once and throw away. These are characteristics of your target readers. You should be writing for such readers also. It means you should be a perfect practitioner of unconditional love. Keep writing a lot thinking that insensitive and helpless blokes are reading your works, who can/will never write back to you.

6. Schools, colleges and universities cannot make writers because creativity is a gift of God but not a man-made product. You can learn craft of writing but creativity must be what you can think and deliver originally. If you read a few books and generate a cocktail of them, great readers can assess your skills and worth very fast. You must be able to write extraordinarily, living in a forest also alone, without reading any book or talking to others for insights. Creativity is a silent sea of thoughts and imaginations buried in you. If you don’t have it there, you can never become a great writer. You can become a professional writer, cooking a different soup, tasting some soups.

7. A great writer is one who can remain silent and balanced even if a million readers or people are making noise around him or her for something he or she wrote. Writers should have the qualities of saints, God and nature. They must be able to please or punish others differently and patiently. A writer should communicate with his target readers through the excellence of his writings. His book goes anywhere but he cannot go to every reader and place to satisfy or argue with all of them personally. Your written piece is the weapon in your hands. How you apply it depends on how much you have in your treasure stove of creativity and how you can utilize it to become what you want. The more the challenges and challengers around you, the more you can deliver to beat them.

8. Writers can become famous and rich investing their creativity. They can deserve that fame and recognition if they create great pieces of writing on their own and edit them 100% on their own. A writer, being a great editor of his work, is the best formula here to be achieved and followed. Some editors may spoil the beauty of your work because they don’t think like you. Your work is your baby. You should know how to decorate it marvelously. Others may not do it well always. Publishers are a dirty lot. Don’t think that your work is worthless even if a thousand publishers rejected it. They are businessmen but not artists like you. They want money but not social reformation and ideals like you and me. Initially you may need to struggle a lot even if you got a great work of fiction in your hands. Consult kind and generous writers and editors of your knowledge. 

One of them certainly guides you one day. Hope and struggle are important for any artist to reach his target art lovers one day.

I wrote a little about writers in this blog. There is much left out. When time and circumstances chase me, how can I write completely about writings and writers? 

I mean a writer may never have time to write comprehensively about a field, which he knows a little because he has to write a little pieces about many things he knows, not just one word or field of activity. 

A doctor does not have time to cure his headache. 

A tailor does not have time to stitch his clothes stylishly. 

A mother does not have time to take care of her health because she takes care of health of others only always. 

A producer does not find enough time to see his feature film satisfactorily in his lifetime.

A personality development trainer talks a lot in public meetings but says nothing to his wife and children at home because he has no time for it. 

DEATH

Death means end of life. Life is presence of a soul in a body. Soul is intangible but eternal. Body is visible but transitory. Soul has no feelings. Body has feelings, emotions, passions, dreams, fantasies and uncountable attachments with many occurrences and phenomena in this material world. Though millions of creatures have been dying over the centuries, I focus on the death of man only in this piece of writing because it seems to be the most challenging phenomenon in this world for me. When I see it before me or think about it, I suffer silently because I cannot do anything more than that. This is what, in fact, millions of humans have been doing ever since the origin of man on this planet. They are suffering for a short while, for a few months, years and even till the end of their lives, remembering the deaths of highly important persons in their lives. Thus, death remained as a permanent challenge to humanity for ages. Death implies separation, loss, pain, suffering, haunting memories and tragedy for all of us.

Death occurs in different ways around us regularly. Natural death, which occurs after one crosses 80 or 90 years, causes us less pain than others because we take it as natural and inevitable for all. Death during old age also causes a lot of pain to all those directly related to one but they slowly can digest that truth and continue their lives normally. Even others can console them easily in this context.

Premature death is the most painful event and experience for millions of people in this world.

Still birth means the entry of a dead baby into this material world with no purpose at all. The parents, siblings, grandparents, relatives and well-wishers of that baby would have weaved a lot of dreams around his or her future course of life after birth. It means we develop a lot of psychological attachment with creature in the womb of its mother also. If that star of our hopes and dreams appears us dead, soon after birth, that pain is also immeasurable. For outsiders, it may look absurd and illogical but we understand the intensity and rationality of much pain and loss only when we experience it personally. Some can empathize but many fail to understand the tragedy of realities from such sensitive and ideal perspective and state of mind. Mother carries baby for all those days. She can never forget that truth of loss and pain in her life. It means many mothers are suffering in this world recollecting still births.

The death of a girl or boy from age 1 to 20 is more intense and lasting than the one described above. If a boy or girl is growing under our direct care and guidance, as a son or daughter, or otherwise, which can be compared to the status of our children, we develop a lot of physical and psychological attachment with them. The more the number of days they spend with us, the more our pain if we lose them somewhere in this journey of intense relationships. The death of an unmarried girl or boy is less painful than that of a married one because marriage connects one to an external creature. What about the life of a married guy if he loses his wife shortly after their marital union? What is the image we have for a boy looking to marry a girl for the second time, after the death of his first wife for some reasons? Second marriage assumed a sort of low value in our society compared to first marriage. What about a girl losing her husband within a few months after marriage? What if she was pregnant by the time her husband passed away? How many of us like to marry a girl with a child or children born out of her marital relationship with her first husband? Though we believe that we are great human beings, our thoughts and plans are actually very narrow. We have somehow passion for fresh objects and persons only. We like unused items of consumption only. Death before marriage causes pain to his or her parents and close relatives only but death after marriage creates many problems in the life of the other creature. Particularly girls suffer more in this context than boys. Many boys and men consider innocent and helpless widows as potential sources of bodily pleasure for them. They try to somehow attract them thinking that they are going to do a lot of favor to them with offer of bodily pleasures secretly. I strongly believe that every widow or widower must marry somebody of similar tragedy to keep her or his life happy and balanced. Basic instincts keep influencing and chasing every human being as long as they are physically and psychologically healthy. It is the nature of human body. We should not blame it. To avoid that sense of loss and pain, physically and mentally, marriage is the best option. There are many around us but few have time and interest to spend with us if we are not related to them at all. It means all human beings do not behave with kindness and love towards lonely and sorrowful ones also. If we want love and companionship in our life, we should search and find such ones, who are suffering with similar set of problems, instead of those who are more comfortable and happier than us. Happiness and sorrow, richness and poverty do not go together as sorrow and sorrow and poverty and poverty. There are very few idealists around us. We are very lucky if we get such people in our lives, early or late.

The death of a person between the age of 21 and 60 is also tragic and painful. If he or she fulfilled most of the responsibilities as a husband or wife, father or mother, or otherwise, during this age range, such death may, partly, be considered less tragic. Since the time a baby starts drawing milk from the breast of its mother, it subjects itself to a variety of responsibilities to be fulfilled towards others. Husband’s role is to look after his wife and other dependents. The role of a traditional homemaker is to take care of her husband, children and other dependents, providing them with various services, time to time. What if such great woman or man dies without fulfilling those vital responsibilities? Many exploit and bother such family members, taking advantage of their helplessness and vulnerability, after the disappearance of a key person in that network of family bonds. If we are crying after the death of a person, he or she contributed, directly or indirectly, to the comfort and happiness of us or some or many known to us. It means even the death of a person does not move us at all if we do not get some benefit from him or her. We cry selfishly always. We rarely suffer for others irrationally and illogically.

The death of a person from the age of 61 to 100 is less painful compared to the deaths of persons of less age range than this because we all accept the bitter truth that death is inevitable for any creature which has the qualities of life and existence. Our parents and others, when growing more and more after 60 years of age, look negligible to us because we are not going to get many physical and other kinds of benefits from them at this stage of their lives. It means most of our relationships are highly commercial and self-centered. We do not love our parents also if they do not make our lives comfortable and happy in many ways. How many Indians love their parents if they do not get anything from them in their process of growth as human beings? Parents expect very little from their children in India but children expect a lot from their parents at every stage of their growth. This is the extraordinary quality of 95% of parents in India. He or she may be a thief, beggar, criminal or corrupt employee; a father or mother is always thinking and working for the welfare of his or her children always. I wonder observing this idiosyncrasy of parents in India. Mostly they are living for their children. Even a 100-year-old man or woman suffers before death because he or she worries about the future of his or her children after his or her death. How great the parents in India are. If children do not cry and suffer even before or after the death of such old and helpless parents, they are worse than a thief, criminal and sinner. Tears are reflection of our innermost humanity. Pain and suffering are inevitable and inseparable elements of human life. We should cry and suffer regularly if we love this mysterious and attractive world. It is giving a lot to us. We fear our death because we don’t like to leave such tempting land and go away into unknown abodes of mystery. Death in old age must be accepted humbly and proudly by everybody. Children cannot bear that reality also because one, who brought them to their present level of physical and mental growth, left this world forever. The greatest supporter and guide of their lives departed forever. Nobody loves them as sincerely as the departed one. None of us can replace the role of a father or mother to other. There is difference between living and acting. Real parents live for their children. Others act some attractive roles for courtesy sake.

In all the deaths of above order, we observe a sense of loss and pain. Can anybody bring back the life of a dead person? It means God posed this highest order of challenge before all mortal beings in this world. Death is a universally applicable and inevitable command. There is no place for arguments and fights. Even the richest, the most intelligent and visionary, the mightiest, the most holy and powerful, kings, queens, emperors, undertakers, doctors, actors…nobody can fight back with death because it is the greatest commander of this world. It subdues us silently or violently. We have to yield to it completely.

Death may occur due to diseases, accidents, mysteries and old age. Death is the biggest villain and hero in human life because we cannot be as cruel and commanding as it is or as disciplined and ideal as it is. Death is approaching all creatures, slowly or early. All dead bodies are being buried, burnt or thrown away mercilessly even by those, who loved and lived with them passionately, when that soul is there in them. It means we can recognize and appreciate the power of intangible soul only when death hits the attractive and beautiful body of materialists. We talk and do a lot when there is soul in our bodies because it is the divine power hidden in us. Once that soul flies off, the body remains as a worthless symbol of decay, tragedy and pain widely present in this world.

We suffer a lot because of deaths of persons closely or remotely related to us rather than due to those of persons not related to us at all. Millions of humans are dying in this world, every second, due to various reasons. We know about them through different sources of information. We are all taking them as ordinary occurrences. We are not stopping eating food, going to films, doing jobs, celebrating our lives and doing many things just because of deaths around us or away from us. It means we are unkind and narrow-minded to a great extent. We do not bother even if somebody dies due to our negligence or cruelty. Many are dying on roads due to accidents. Most of these accidents are taking place due to careless drivers, defective vehicles or bad roads. How many of these creators of death are dying or suffering for what they did to others? Many car owners rush off after an accident caused due to them on roads and other places. It means the tragic death of a person is not a cause of pain to them. They shout a lot even if a dog comes across their path of driving. There are millions of people in this world who practice these double standards. We can observe this unkind and cruel phenomenon in highly rich and politically powerful persons across the world. Companies spend crores of rupees for the safety, health, comfort and happiness of their high cadre executives and bosses but they do not think about the deaths being caused by their products or services. Tobacco, alcohol, drug related industries are just a few examples for this phenomenon. They sell harmful items not minding about the diseases and deaths they are causing in a nation. Even farmers growing tobacco and other dangerous crops belong to this race of criminals in every nation. It means they are working towards the diseases and deaths of others always. Governments also spend unbelievable amount of money for the safety, health, comforts and happiness of politicians but what about those helpless and pitiable citizens of a nation, who are dying daily due to the immoral, unkind, selfish and illegal acts and policies being implemented by them. Various kinds and levels of governments sell cigarettes, liquor and fatal drugs to their citizens, clearly knowing that they die because of various diseases and disorders because of their detrimental effects on them. They create and continue problems to humanity in every modern state also. No ruler has genuine concern for the lives of others in any country now, including Barack Obama. He sends troops to Afghanistan in the name of war against international terrorism but he is indirectly killing hundreds of American soldiers and innocent people of that impoverished country in this process. It means all political heads are concerned about their welfare at many levels but not about the welfare of their citizens. Many countries are spending billions of dollars for their defense establishments, maintenance, personnel and ammunition. They are training death causers, whom we call soldiers. Unfortunately, soldiers are choosing that job being ready to die at any time in the attacks of their opponents. We are planning and systematizing many deaths this way in our countries. If every ruler is kind and generous in this world, there should not be defense personnel and ammunition at all. Modern politics is the most nasty and inhuman branch of human thought and action. These cruel and selfish rulers always think and work on the ideas and strategies related to frightening others and thus achieving supremacy over them instead of showering kindness, love and idealism on them. When such cruel killers are becoming our rulers, deaths would be immense in every part of the world. We, the citizens of every nation, unfortunately, are making and bearing such nasty rulers because of our foolishness and stupidity. They sit and hit on our heads. We take it as their great service to all of us. We are choosing sinners to further ruin our vulnerable lives!

Though we are mostly concerned about the deaths of humans around us, we suffer because of deaths of other creatures also like birds, animals and trees. We suffer a lot when a pet bird, animal, plant or tree dies because we admire them for their utility or beauty. It is satisfying our inner self someway. Even in this context, we are suffering and crying selfishly. Do we treat stray dogs and pet dogs alike? Do we treat public transport vehicles and private vehicles alike? Do we treat government property and private property alike? Mostly we love and care for what belongs to us deeply and directly. We are not bothered about rest of the things much. This narrow outlook and behavior of us is mostly the direct or indirect cause for deaths and pain around us regularly. We love our little birds and animals a lot. We provide them with many facilities in our homes and offices. What about the chicken, mutton and various other kinds of meat we are consuming daily. It is not our fowl or animal. Somebody grew it for his livelihood. Somebody else killed it and sold us its meat. We are just facilitating some unemployed victims live this way. What a great calculation from our perspective as regular and passionate consumers of meat at homes and hotels? Some creatures were born exclusively to be killed for us because humans are the lords of this world. Most of humans argue every case from their perspective of selfishness and benefit. This is why many crimes and sins are taking place around us. I don’t like anybody throwing a light dry stick also at me for fun also but I shoot animals and birds in forests for fun. I want everybody to be perfect but nobody should expect perfection from me. Persons with this outlook die the most dangerous and painful death in this world very slowly or suddenly. Death may be a punishment imposed on us by nature in many contexts but others don’t learn a lesson from such natural events and avoid committing such crimes and sins. The cruelty of man is such that he kills and tortures such creatures, which served or serve him a lot. This is why we should consider man as the most dangerous species on earth planet. He cannot live without exploiting or killing other resources or creatures always.

How can we lose fear of death or face it boldly when that moment hits us slowly or suddenly? I will present some observations to make you alert, intelligent and visionary in this direction.

1. Love your natural death. Natural death occurs after 60 or 90 years depending on how you maintain your body and mind in your life unless a fatal disease like cancer or heart attack hits you. Live with great habits which allow you to live with superb health in body and mind. You should not be a victim of accident or disease due to your foolishness or carelessness. Nobody likes to take care of you when you are bedridden or completely dependable upon others. Are you ready to serve somebody if he or she is bedridden for about 20 or 30 years in your life? You are interested in your life. Others are also intelligent and selfish creatures like you because they too belong to your race. Because you have more money, vehicles, comforts and luxuries, you need not misuse them to hurt somebody in your course of life. Love and care for everybody that comes across your life. They are silently and patiently permitting you to live like a rogue among them. How should you treat such great human beings? Salute those poor beings. Appreciate those sick and helpless patients in various hospitals and places around you. You are better than all of them. Thank God for it. Live like a sensible individual and admirable citizen of your nation. When you live that ideally, you don’t fear death at all because you love your death also humbly and proudly in that state of idealism. Narrow-minded and cruel persons only fear death a lot!

2. Spend considerable amount of time there, where there is a lot of pain, suffering and tragedy, as an active participant or passive observer. Go to dead bodies wherever and whenever possible, and feel that atmosphere of pain and suffering silently. Know that there is a lot of tragedy around you in the form of death. Spend time in and around graveyards. If many are crying around a dead body, observe it passively and understand why they are crying that badly. Is it for formality sake or from the depths of their hearts? You can assess human character better from this observation and experience. If they are crying really for the dead one, he or she did something good for them directly or indirectly. If all are playing some formal roles there for the sake of courtesy, unfortunately, he or she earned such idiots only in his or her lifetime due to his or her ignorance, foolishness or stupidity. Avoid thinking and living like him or her. Be there and feel that intense pain. If you always do such things, which keep you comfortable and happy, you fear tragedy and death. Realize, in time, that they may hit you at any time because nobody can escape from them. The more you understand and experience pain because of inevitable conditions in your life or voluntarily, the more you lose fear of difficulties and death. Read books of tragedy and see films of tragedy now and then. You understand life better when suffering because of something rather than enjoying your life. So, pain and challenges make you more humane, ideal and brave. Spend there as many times as possible to love death and pain around you. Don’t run away from incidents of death and experiences of pain but be a close observer of them. If you know about something a lot, personally or professionally, you lose fear of it slowly. Love death and pain also. Take death as your good friend. It knows when and how to help you. Accept when it comes to you but don’t call it proactively.

3. Read scriptures of your religion and other great books. Accord more importance to your soul and psychological growth than bodily decoration and material attractions. When you understand the futility and vulnerability of human body, you would start falling in love with God and understanding the core of your life. The more you grow spiritually, the more you lose fear of pain and death. Death is just a little phase of your long spiritual journey. Do you suffer when you are getting off at your destination after a bus or train journey? You will take many other buses and trains also in future. So, nothing to worry about the end of this short journey. There are many wonders and mysteries ahead. You will learn and enjoy a lot in that series of future journeys also. Every journey has to stop somewhere to start another exciting journey. Death is also a short halt in your long journey from ignorance and fear of life to bliss of God and divine space. There are millions of creatures as your co-passengers. You are not alone.

4. Frequently listen to classical instrumental music being alone. There is no language in instrumental music but divine power of spell. You need not decode meanings of any words in it as it happens when you are listening to songs with specifically written words depending on a context in a feature film. Classical instrumental music makes you calm, divine, ideal, healthy, visionary, spiritual, intelligent and kind. It silently teaches you to live for the sake of God, who created you but not for yourself. Your body is an instrument of God. Play it gently and ideally. Let others enjoy your presence just like instrumental music. Your life must be a living example of idealism and inspiration to others. Talk less and work more. How can you appreciate instrumental music? It has no life and senses like you to receive your criticism or appreciation. It serves you ideally, always struggling to give you something and never expecting something back from you. If you can be so ideal and inspiring, the thoughts of death further make you into a philosopher. You would understand and experience everything silently and make little noise. Great musicians of the world are agents of God appointed by Him to keep His creatures happy always.

5. Realize that virtues are the assets of our life. Virtues encompass great habits and qualities of human beings. If this world is so beautiful and comfortable today, it is because of exemplary contribution of hundreds of thinkers, writers, saints, social reformers, scientists, rulers, visionaries and philanthropists. They did a lot to keep you happy today, even though you are not directly related to them. What are you doing for your family members, friends, well-wishers, society, religion or others? Are you directly or indirectly helping them in any way? The more you think and work for others, the more you can be comfortable and happy. Empathize with others when talking and spending with them instead of always presenting your arguments and orders to them. Remember that death treats all alike. You should also treat others equally as far as possible. You can achieve it through patience and spiritually oriented life. The more you are growing physically, the more must be your levels of patience and tolerance with people and conditions around you. You must be changing continuously according to the pressing influences around you. When you were a child, everybody cared for you and treated you like God. When you grow up and become an old man of 75 years with feeble organs, very few like your presence and like to spend time with you. It means your age and appearance are also influencing others a lot. When you were able to give, there were many to take something or the other from you but when you are expecting something from them, when you are old and helpless, nobody is there to help you. It means 99% of humans are selfish and narrow-minded in this world. Don’t expect anything from them. Learn how to be comfortable and happy on your own. Don’t depend on others as far as possible. Do everything for yourself and be content with what you can and possess. Avoid expecting anything from others but keep trying to give something to others. When you don’t expect anything from others, there won’t be pain in you even if others are not caring for you. Assess your future today and be prepared accordingly. Analyze the characters of people around you when you are young and energetic and live using those insights and experiences when you grow old. Planning helps you live happily to some extent though your destiny bypasses it often. Death is a full stop to a series of problems and tensions in your life. So, take it proudly and calmly when it comes to you naturally.

6. The best way to get rid of births and deaths in various life forms is to attain salvation as humans. Very few souls take birth as humans. Of them very few get a chance to meditate God. A soul can reach this spiritual status of progress after practicing meditation in various life forms as a human being. We cannot attain salvation through our realization and spiritual efforts in one lifetime. If we take birth, we need to face death. We can avoid death reaching God through salvation. We should slowly shun material attachments to enter this radiant path. It requires a lot of commitment and hard work from each of us.

7.  Atheists do not believe in the existence of God. When a series of deaths occur in their network of relationships, they may not be able to console themselves as theists. Those that believe in God attribute success and failure or sorrow and happiness in their lives to God and thus can balance their lives better than atheists. So many wonders and mysteries are there in this universe. We are all wee creatures in this cosmos. We cannot get answers to all these riddles through science and logic. Even if we check the issue of existence of God, scientifically also nothing happens without a reason. If millions of people are believing in the existence of God and His immense power on their lives, through following various cults, it means there is certainly some divine force beyond our access. Since that conscious power created this universe, it can understand our sincere worship and prayer also. If we believe in God, death cannot frighten us. He is the donor of this life and so he is the right agent to end this life according to our Karma. So, there is no place for us to think and worry about our natural death at all.

8. If we check our literature and culture, there are many comments and customs related to death. There are a number of theories, fears, imaginations and mysteries around the occurrence of death to different creatures in different ways. Through deeply analyzing those facts and events about the concept of death, we can understand the character of death in this world. Death scares us as long as we fail to understand and experience it before it really approaches us. We should explore its nature and effects when we are alive and active. Being trained extensively is necessary to face a natural phenomenon.

Some more observations and comments about death.

1.  Many casually say that they are ready to sacrifice their lives also for others. It means they are stating that they would die just like that for a cause. Mostly commercially oriented folks like shallow politicians and film stars talk such nonsense in public meetings to fool and attract their audience. In fact, for 95% of creatures in this world, the most valuable property for them is their life. They do anything to somehow live. It means the most precious element in this world is our life. It’s God’s greatest gift to us. We should not neglect, insult or sacrifice it for anything or anybody. We should struggle to live and die naturally one day, slowly or fast. We cannot decide the nature of our death. It is a surprise always.

2. Death is the biggest challenge to humanity in this world. It defeated all with a single blow only!

3. Sometimes we escape narrowly from death. It means there is still much to be experienced by us in this lifetime. Nobody can change the order of death scheduled to our life, except God and saints through their extraordinary divine powers. To understand a saint better, we should become a saint.

4. We often blame God observing premature deaths in our circle of relatives and friends. We blame Him even if He allows us to live for a long period of time also.  We blame Him either way. What a pity!

5. If death is not creating a sense of loss and pain in somebody, he might be an innocent baby, a saint, a psychopath, a mad man or a notorious criminal. Death is a great teacher. We are all students before it.

6. Nobody is actually ready to die for us. If somebody really died for us to save us from a tragedy, out of pure love for us, he or she is the greatest human being as far as our life is concerned. They must be admired by us as ones next to God. Everybody, sacrificing life for a great cause, is a star. In recorded human history, we find many such martyrs. We all owe a lot to them. We are living today because of their substantial contributions and glorious sacrifices. Their memories always chase us.

7. The pain caused in us soon after the death of a person in our close quarters is like rainwater appearing on surface of earth soon after rain. It is fresh and intense. After a period of time, it settles in the deepest parts of our subconscious mind. It keeps moving us now and then. If somebody is appearing casually and happily to us, it may not mean that there are no tragedies in his or her life. There might be a huge storehouse of pain and suffering in his or her mind also. We must spend affectionately and caringly to understand the actual lives of others better and console them if we can. Many do not share the stories of tragedies in their lives proactively as they do in case of happy events in their past. They think that others are not interested in the tragedies of their lives. Introverts are vulnerable creatures from this perspective. They do not mingle with others much. They do not speak out about their fears and sense of loss. We must become friends to such ones also and create a sense of hope in them slowly.

8. Old people, sick persons with serious illnesses and ones with many tragedies in their lives wait for death patiently. Than those who die suddenly, this kind of sufferers consider death as the greatest doctor for them. We cannot remove some tragic memories and pains from us at all despite our best efforts. Only death can end such burden of tragedies in us. So, death is a great doctor to many victims.

9. Doctors daily see different kinds of deaths in their profession. Patients consider them as visible gods and goddesses because only they can save life somehow. Doctors should accord more importance to life and suffering of the patient in their hands than money and prestige in the profession. Who fail to live ideally in this profession, take lives with various diseases and disorders later! Thus they experience pain and suffering intensely in those lifetimes. They get cheated and tortured by others in various ways. What we do today becomes our spiritual data. What we get tomorrow depends on this data. Nobody can change it. So, all of us must be careful while dealing with creatures. We build up our future always!

10. Imposed death is suicide. Soul of that creature suffers a lot after this crime. It is like escaping from the bullet of police on road and jumping into a muddy well when we don’t know how to swim. Bullet kills within seconds but imagine our suffering in a dark and muddy well after falling in it some night.

11. We bear hard life for years together patiently but fear death, which happens within seconds and resolves all our issues with a single shot. Are we not really foolish, stupid and senseless?

12. Death cannot frighten stones, sand, air, water, fire, sky and earth. They are greater than all of us!

LETTER TO GOD

Sural Jemin was getting ready to commit suicide during those early hours of the day, jumping off a peak of the Himalayas. Lord Krishna noticed his plight and came to save him. He appeared before Jemin and asked, ‘Why are you committing suicide?’ He replied, “I am completely disgusted with my life. I want to end it. My life has no purpose”. Lord Krishna told him, “Write a letter addressing me. I will answer all of them. If you are not satisfied about your existence even after reading my clarifications to your problems, you can die. I will take away that sin from your soul”. Sural agreed to this proposal and wrote the following letter addressing the God.

Dear God,

My life has been a series of issues but I would write about only eight of them. I don’t like to disturb your peace of mind with my elaborate story of pains and distress.

1. I was born ugly. My parents, relatives and everybody else considered me as an untouchable entity in course of time. I could not tolerate that revulsion and indifference from them. I started living as an orphan. I could not believe in anybody thereafter because my own creatures hated my presence. Why did you give me such beginning?

2. I continued living as a beggar at famous Hindu temples. I wondered observing the attitudes of devotees. They used to come in rich clothes and offer a lot of money and ornaments to God knowing that God does not take any of them. They never bothered about my ugly clothes or my everlasting poverty as a beggar. Even if your devotees have such low standards of thinking, who can help and save destitute creatures like me?

3. Knowing that English was being admired by millions of people in India, I picked reading material from many dustbins and improved my English skills. I read many great books and gained immense knowledge on various aspects and phenomena in this world. I felt like sharing all that invaluable knowledge with as many people as possible to awake and educate them. No school allowed me to work as a teacher. Few had interest in learning what I said. They were not interested in the power and purity of knowledge but on the look of the person delivering it. Nobody treated me as an intelligent person because I had no certificates or attractive look. Why?

4. A very beautiful and sensitive orphan loved me when I was crossing 30. I felt so possessive of her that she appeared like a Goddess to me. She died within 40 days of my association with her with cancer. I had no money to save her taking her to a hospital. I allowed her to die slowly due to my poverty and helplessness. Those memories are still haunting me. Part of the reason for my decision to die now is to get rid of those chasing memories.

5. I moved from place to place as a ticketless passenger in trains to understand human life better. Everywhere I observed selfishness and carelessness in millions of people. They were all great actors and actresses in their lives. Very few of them were living honestly, with real fear of God and sin. They had no individuality of their own. They were playing different roles to satisfy or bother others directly or indirectly. They were all absolute sinners.

6. I fell in love with nature for some time. I spent in a deep forest observing the lifestyles of a few tribes, animals and birds. Strong and intelligent heads of those tribes were cheating others. I observed the same phenomenon in animals and birds also. Most of them were living killing other creatures for their survival. I hated that environment.

7. I desired to meditate God and attain salvation after listening to the great words of a yogi. He said that this life is a shadow of my soul and so to forget about the comforts of the body and focus on the spiritual journey of my soul. I practiced meditation for some months sitting alone in a closed cave but my body got weakened slowly in this process. I stopped meditating. I concentrated on the energy of my body for survival. I had no control on my mind.

8. I spent about four years exclusively thinking about Karma of every creature. It is our asset. It chases us regularly. Our comforts and sadness are a result of our Karma. Still, we can face it and partly change it with strong will and virtues. I led my life patiently for all these years, despite many tragic turns in it. I lost that patience now. I want to end this life now and clear the burden of all these sins in my next birth. I am dying as a sage, not as an orphan.

Lord Krishna read this letter patiently. He wrote the following reply letter to him within a day.   

1. You worried about your ugliness. There are thousands of exceptionally beautiful creatures and phenomena in this universe. Some are seen by others and appreciated but they cannot understand that language of communication. They continue to live not fearing criticism or expecting appreciation from others. None of them ever thinks of their features or qualities. They never commit suicide like humans. They do not depend on others. They face heat, rain and cold of the nature without complaining to me at all. You got more intelligence and power than them to live happily among different oddities and challenges. Still why are you angry with me?

2. Ninety percent of my devotees act formal roles only. They think that they can cheat me through their gimmicks. They wear colorful clothes, get their heads tonsured for me, offer various amounts of money and gifts to satisfy me artificially. I observe their thoughts and lifestyles and laugh within myself regularly. Accepting money and little gifts from them, as a beggar, you committed more sins. They offered immoral and illegal money to you. So, you shared part of their sins, living based on the alms of those sinners. Instead of sitting at temples for food, you should have gone to government hospitals and schools. You can see many poor people there. You must have begged money and other things from them for your survival. Most of them refuse to offer you anything. If some of them are offering something to you voluntarily or after understanding your tragic life, it is morally and legally acceptable substance from them. They live more honestly than my colorful and attractive devotees at temples. Most of them never visit a temple. They neither have time nor resources to visit my artificial abodes of show, established by selfish and manipulative man. You must accept donation from the poorest of the poor only to understand me better in this material world but you chose temples to live lazily and comfortably. You lived shamelessly.

3. You learnt English and gained immense knowledge on various aspects of life and phenomena in this world but you failed to realize that knowledge is the least wanted item to materialists. They crave those things, which make their lives more and more sad, uncomfortable and sinful because it is their Karma. It does not allow them to seek and utilize easily accessible and comprehensible knowledge. You did not realize that you cannot change anybody teaching them about virtues. There are scriptures and saints in every age in some form or the other. In fact, I lived among them as an ordinary human being for many years. Even then, many of them neglected me because I was easily accessible to them. They run after futile dreams and endless fancies, not benefitting from vast resources of knowledge and directions to the path of salvation around them. They think that knowledge is useless. They are deeply attracted towards money, material assets, physical comforts and impossible ideas. You should not distribute knowledge freely to anybody because they consider it as valueless. Instead, you should have spent your life silently without bothering about educating others. You should have thought more about yourself than others. You are responsible for your destiny. Struggle to understand it. Strive to change your course of journey. You are coming alone into this world. You will leave this abode of shadows all alone. It means you are one. Change yourself first.

4. Everybody falls in love and admiration with somebody or something in this world. She died earlier than you because it was her schedule of spiritual journey. You were just a nominal role player in her series of different lifetimes and related experiences. She consoled you for some time as your beloved because you played similar role in her previous lifetime. She paid back that borrowed sense of love and care to you in this lifetime to clear her balance of attachments and burden. Dying early, she did not allow you to attach more to the account of her soul. She is relieved to that extent. You are still suffering recollecting those memories related to her because it is part of your Karma. You must realize that nothing is reliable in this world. Everything is transient. To provide you with that experience only, she spent with you for some time. It means she was the best teacher in your life. I teach my creatures in different ways but most of them fail to benefit from those lessons. They foolishly go to schools, colleges and universities thinking that there is extraordinary knowledge there from which they can gain a lot. It shows that they are devising more plans and policies to further spoil their thoughts and actions. If every educated person becomes great in this world, what is the need of temples? They know what is good or bad? Why are they committing sins and crimes despite being scholars and scientists! They indirectly teach you that they cheat themselves playing all those attractive roles out of their egos. Death is inevitable. Bear with this reality.

5. Sun shines brightly in the sky according to his scheduled duty by me. Moon is also a source of light and happiness at night. They are doing their duties. Similarly humans also take births in this world to do their duties. Before criticizing others, you must have realized that you were also a big actor in this world. You continued to live without bothering about many unfortunate creatures around you. There were men and women with various physical and mental impairments and limitations. There were thousands of animals and birds suffering with various diseases, accidents and struggle for existence in highly testing environments. You never subjected yourself to that set of difficulties and pain to understand life better but chose such ways and means which keep you unaffected. You took this form of life only because you are a sinner. You will take many lifetimes ahead because you learnt very little in this lifetime though I gave you a great opportunity this way. If you criticize or hurt somebody or something else, you will take that burden on to your soul. It means you are committing more sins unnecessarily indulging in the spiritual journeys of other sinful creatures. Great saints never come to you. You should struggle a lot to know about them. They don’t pity you even if you approach them after years of search and repentance because they are focused on their salvation. They took life only because they did not yet get salvation. When they have no time to clear their spiritual burden, how can they spend time for you? Don’t depend on others. Your Karma decides whom you should meet and how you should progress in your spiritual journey. Pray me honestly. I help you reach me fast. I don’t like or dislike anybody. I simply see how you are all playing your destined roles. My actual help is very little because I cannot erase your Karma from the account of your soul. Reform yourself.

6. Man is an intelligent creature compared to other creatures in my universe. There is no much difference between man and other creatures. Man often thinks that he can control everything around him. He seeks pleasure beating dogs, hunting beasts and exploiting helpless fellow humans. He has to pay for every sin he commits, sooner or later. Nature keeps you happy if you have to get that experience according to your Karma. The same nature impairs or kills you if you are destined to it. Scientists think of collecting and storing electricity from lightning. Cattle keepers and other innocent ones run to the shelter of trees when it is raining heavily. Some of them die due to thunderbolts falling on those trees. Lightning is the same with unique qualities. Scientists see it as a source of electricity. Laymen die due to it as part of their Karma. Nature serves you based on what you deserve but not what you desire from it. It is part of my drama. It is also playing a nominal role based on my instructions. Never criticize nature for what you lost because of it. It helps you live your Karma, nothing more than that. Man is killing fellow human beings for his pleasure or ego. Animals kill fellow animals for their survival. Which is better?

7. You can dream of anything because I equipped you with such faculty of thinking and imaginations but you can do only that which your soul is capable of. Rich people have millions of rupees and uncountable assets but how many of them are morally strong and happy? They know about their crimes and sins. On the other hand, many orphans and beggars are living patiently and happily for long despite the fact that nobody wants them in this world. A beggar learns more from his lifetime and lessens the burden of his soul than rich and comfortable people in this world. If you are facing more difficulties and pain continuously, it means your soul is progressing faster towards realization of self and salvation than others. I make you realize me through subjecting you to hardships, tragedies and sorrow. So, ask me to give you more difficulties and pain to understand me early and reach me fast. If you want to be comfortable and happy like all those rich and luxurious people around you, you have to wait thousands of years to understand and reach me. Take what is given to you. If you want and struggle for more, you will suffer later.

8. Understand that even sages have no authority to end their lives voluntarily. Your extensive knowledge or experience as a saint does not authorize you to abruptly close your destined spiritual journey. Such souls suffer without getting a chance to take another lifetime early. Suicide is a big spiritual crime. Both your birth and death should happen naturally, according to the account of your soul. Committing suicides, many enter another long path of difficulties and pain in a series of extended lifetimes. I cannot save such souls from that additional burden of lifetimes. How you are born, live and die depend on the journey of your soul. Body should not take decision about the path of soul. You should regulate your thoughts accordingly based on your knowledge about your lifetime gained through my direct and indirect instructions to you regularly in this world in various ways and forms. Hope you understood the message of my clarifications to you. Remember that spiritual knowledge is such, which cannot be explained completely through words of material world. Your soul is the right learner and teacher to you. Many things happen in this universe, which are incomprehensible and intangible to ordinary human beings.

Jemin read this reply from Lord Krishna and decided to continue his life. He withdrew from the idea of suicide.