Resumo de A Fitting Finale And The Beginning Of A New Life

Believe it or not, Jamnagar's cremation ground is a popular picnic spot. Its entrance gate is colourful, its passages decorated with frescoes and relief paintings. The sprawling woods around have some amazing dioramas, depicting incidents from mythology.

All this is set amidst fountains, moats, and lotus ponds. There are thoughtfully placed benches and wood stumps for you to sit and take in the aesthetically pleasing ambience. The oath to the cremation enclosure is flanked by statues of renowned saints, inclu-ding that of martyr Sindhi Saint Kanwar Bhagat Ram.

On several visits to Jamnagar, I avoided visiting this place. I found the idea bizarre. How can the sorrow of a departed soul be mingled with fun and frolic?

Then, realising that death was an exit and an entry ? it was the end of the tunnel, but the beginning of another journey; it was a joyful flight of return to the natureshore ? I understood that what is sunset here, is sunrise there. I ventured to that holy spot.

A body was being consigned to flames as children played around, and visitors read the writings on the diorama or on the walls and children discussed the mythological characters depic-ted there. The entire ambience conveyed one message: Death is a natural part of life.

If all life is a celebration, then death too, is a celebration. The twittering birds, the flowers, and the mango trees made the experience, not one of sorrow but of reflection. Death is freedom from the gross physical. Says Sadhu Vaswani: "When you die, you drink the waters of the river of silence.

Coming to the other side, you glimpse the light and your soul bursts into a song of joy!" Why then are graveyards and crematoriums described in eerie terms? I attended a simple burial of a Christian friend. If her life was a beautiful prayer, so was her 'finale'.

As the sun went down behind the huge banyan trees, her body was lowered to rest along with her husband; a priest read a prayer from the Bible and then we sang: "Fast falls the eventide...". The silence, the sunset and the gentle breeze made her finale a truly memorable one.

Sadhu Vaswani said: "To know the mystery of death, you must be in tune with the heartbeat of life. For life is the river that floweth on until it enters into life that man calls death, even as the Indus floweth on, until it enters into the great Indian Ocean".

Years ago, we were driving from Pune to Nasik. On the way, on the river bank we saw a group of villagers seated around the funeral pyre, singing bhajans and clashing cymbals. It was drizzling, the clouds hovered low, the tongues of flame leaped as the river placidly flowed.

The scene spoke of peace. So touched were we that we parked the car by the roadside and joined them in their farewell to their beloved. I recalled these words: "Beyond it are the Angels,/ The devas in the radiance clothed/waiting on the harbour/ to greet you Home".

Who doesn't want to go home? All of us have to take the journey forward. As a doctor said: A rose is fragrant and smells sweet, because it is going to fade...

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