When the Swan sings..

Dear sir,

let me be the first person to take a stab at this very difficult subject. Recently I happened, yes happened to listen to the last few minutes of an interview on radio and this is what I heard "On death: The older I get, the more I think about it because the closer it comes. I'm very interested in the actual act of dying, which is the last great human action that we have in our lives. It's the one event in our lives that no one can describe adequately because nobody comes back to talk about it ...My feeling is, death is the great mystery, and it's the final act in our lives, and it deserves, if anything ever does, the kind of treatment that a guy like me can give it — which is speculative and imaginative." The interview itself can be found here in this link Interview: Stephen King, Author Of 'Doctor Sleep' : NPR and honestly sir, I don't recall reading any of his books and thankfully so. I fall in to that category of people who fear the concept of fear than fear, by itself! That is another reason, I cringe as I watch TV in this month of October, I wait for Halloween to be over as quickly as it can!

Now, where was I? Oh yes I have to start at the beginning! The first thing that I recalled is a person I know who makes it a point to gently remind me when ever I meet her that why fear death when we can actually choose how we can pass on! I am still trying to understand that and no, she won't give up telling me that. And then when you speak of your age, I am reminded of Yudhishtira I think who said that the biggest mystery in the world is that every one just assumes that they are going to live on forever! I also remember reading some where that the concept of rebirth in a way gives us a sense of immortality. Yes, enough said and I do have to confess, it is an interesting way of looking at death at least for mortals who are not close to salvation!

Well, sir more than the topic of death, I am fascinated by the Swan theory you have shared. I could not help but wonder that a creature as lovely as a swan is the one which chooses to part in the same fashion, with a lovely swan song! Isn't it a swan that can also separate water from milk, telling us that we should use that power of discrimination? And yet this same swan is also given a gutteral noise or silence as it's mode of communication. It is fascinating to think that even such a perfect creature has that one little draw back and it gladdens me for the swan song only proves that there is always room for improvement when we are blessed with so many of those abilities to make mistakes! It only signifies the fact that despite what we are, we can be something else like you have rightly pointed out but why only in the evening of our lives sir? Don't we all get an evening everyday, giving us a chance to sing that swan song? So let me just say, thank you for that reminder.

Dear Kamala and Viswa sir, please accept my heart felt condolences.

 

Dear Sir,
Yet another beautiful piece by you.

You have already attained the above by your numerous thought provoking threads and posts. I am just amazed at how beautifully you integrate quotes into your posts. Quoting from the Vedas to Robert Frost, so seamlessly done!

:bowdown

I strongly believe that just as Lord Krishna adjusted to the "yuga" he was born in (different from Rama), we too need to adjust to the Kali Yuga in following the 4 stages of life - Brahmacharanam, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sanyasi. Perhaps we don't have to go literally live in the forests (for there aren't many left) but find the forests in our homes. It is really the style of living rather than "place" of living.

Several years ago, I attended a Franklin Planner class for time management. At the class, they had mentioned two things that struck out to me. They said that written goals are always achieved and we were all encouraged to create our personal mission statement. On the latter, they recommended thinking of all the people we love and interact with on a daily basis. Then assume that we were going to die today. What would we have these dear ones say about us in their eulogy? This should be done when you aren't under any stress and perhaps over time to avoid any biases. I took this seriously and 15 years ago I created my own personal mission statement that has held good all these years.

This has helped me make major decisions in life calmly and correctly even under tremendous stress. I share this not with a purpose of "one upping", but with the sincere hope that it will motivate others to derive the same value I have derived from this exercise.

This has opened up a life where I never have to fear death but live it in a way that I have no regrets on any day. The only reason I didn't share my personal mission statement is because it is different for each one of us and we need to create one for ourselves. This is not something we can adopt

Thank you for a lovely post. God bless you always.

Dear Kamala & Viswa - It is hard always to accept death, for that means that there is one less person in the mortal world that loves you so dearly. I do offer my deepest condolences in the hope that this has also allowed you to gain the love of a lot more people.

 

Yet another wonderful post from Cheeniya sir! I know I'm young(28) to post my feedback. I still want to tell this incident. I've seen my grandfather's death right in front of my eyes. He was not well for a brief period. He was always scared of death. But three days before his passing, he started shouting/screaming/howling (not able to find the exact word) continuously. We all got scared, called the doctor and the he advised us to keep him at home as there is no point to bring thatha to the hospital. Doctor told us that he might get well or he might pass away. So here I can relate that thatha was singing the swan song.

After 3 days of continuous howling, there was no sound from him. We thought he got tired and slept off. Amma used to feed him in between with water worrying that his throat would get dried. Similarly amma was happy that his sound had gone and things are getting back to normal. Amma went to feed him with a glass of water, thats when we realized that he passed away.

I was 16 when this happened. This created a big impact. I was wondering where/how/when did the spirit escape from the body. So at the end life is it this much only. No matter what you earn, we are all rested in the same grave yard, treated the same way. Before death we are given respect, no matter you are a politician, model or a beggar when there is no life we are referred as body. When a death is informed, first question comes in tamil "potha eppo eduka poringa" (when is the body taken to burial ground)

Why or where are we heading towards? Wealth?Prosperity?Happiness? This led me to the spiritual side. On bigger picture everything is a passing phase. We have to identity ourselves, bring peace to oneself and provide happiness to people around us. As told by Shirdi Sai Baba in His Satcharitara, body is a tool, use and treat it safely. When you are dead, surrender it properly to God.

 

My condolensces to Viswa and Kkrish on losing their dear ones.

Dear cheeniya,
Yet another pensive post about Death from you. Understandable. Every news about death of an aquaintence invariably churns ruminations about that ultimate mystery , leading to some serious reviewing of our lives , renewed resolutions , remodified goals......till the clock chimes in the new day with its old strifes and tested defenses. Death receeds , life goes on. I dont want to say, Smashana vairaghyam ,but sadly thats the pattern.
The analogy of the swans song that you have used here is very evocative.

The fear of death and judgement day does influence our thoughts towards higher goals . Since time immemorial, people retired from the duties of a grahasta life, have gone on pilgrimages, pora Vazhikku punyam thedikka . If they did any meritorious deeds, it was as investment for a future beyond this death. If their name got immortalised , as a consequence ,it was bonus, not the anticipated maturity benefit . Only those who make a conscious effort to live like. " good human being " will, upon death, be remembered as a good human. Memories of exemplary behaviour often get buried in oblivion and sadly only the short comings are remembered,even in the case of mahatmas. The famous quote " the evil that men do lives after them , the good gets interred with the bones " says much about the human trait of selective memory. Not everyone is blessed to become become a Valmiki .

Rectifying a lifelong poverty of virtue at the fag end of the show is not an easy endeavour. Our personality is a creature of habit. People repent particular episodes and reform to that extent, but rarely do they undergo a total makeover . (There are some rare exceptions ofcourse, but I am keeping to the general.) Change cannot be enforced on well sedimented personality traits. Virtuous living, worthy of immortality, has to come from the cradle. Theres a story of God telling His wife that He will save a wicked man , who is about to fall off a tree, if he calls out His name or even Appa, that His Wife should save him if he called out Her Name or Amma, but the useless man just cries out Ayyo, thus plunging to death, because never in his life has he uttered Gods name or remembered to honour his parents , so his mind even in the throes of death , refuses to utter good ! Thats how most people end up !

Its not my argument that no effort should be made to learn that swans song. But I am all for forgetting immortality , punyam etc and just concentrate on making better humans of ourselves so that we make our lives useful and that of people around us happy , in this life, in this world, with the conviction only this matters. If we can achieve that, the fall of the final curtain is of no consequence.

 

Dear Sri,

First let me pay my condolences to Viswamitra and Kamala for losing their dear ones. May the souls rest in peace.

Very serious topic. A lot of work for grey cells.

This FB I did not type directly on the keyboard. Wrote the thoughts that came to mind on a paper and trimmed them (otherwise too lengthy and nobody, including you would not read it). Then started typing.

When there is birth there is death also...beginning and end. But many learned people say that physical death is not the end of life and we are to continue in another life (need not be human form, any form). So, according to them death is not treated as a full stop, but only as a comma or a semicolon Life continues..... I would not go deep into scriptures because my knowledge in that field is very very limited.

Yes, in the evening of life one thinks of death often as the clock is ticking away. But the mysteriousness of death does not follow any rule or rhyme. It does not follow any method or sequence or chronology.I have seen some deaths, both young and old. Young who has many dreams, ambitions and miles to go just disappeared and old suffering and suffering waiting for death. Some went cheerfully well prepared, made the family secure, not much lamenting (especially terminally ill patients) We do not know when it strikes, whom it strikes. No one came back how it is there to tell. So, philosophers and learned ones interpret in their own way according to their imagination (I don't want to use this word against great people, but a better word does not strike me).

Now the swan Song and immortality......

Everybody who left is immortal in some near, dear ones' heart.Numbers may differ. To some many and to some few.In a corner of mind they are immortal. Numbers may differ. When to write the swan song is a big question. Humans do not know for sure when they are going to leave this world. The one they think swan song may not be so. Swans know about their end and they deliver the beautiful piece. So, human being should try to live life to their level best, no specific swan song. The last thing they do becomes their swan song. It comes to the surface of mind when we think of them. Living full life as we like and prepare for swan song does not work out for us..it works only for swans.

Thank you for a wonderful thread and for bringing out our thoughts which were lurking in our minds.

Syamala

 

There was a recent blog in the NY Times that asked this interesting question.

To read more click here.