Yesterday, I received a message from a friend about the online funeral service of an acquaintance.
Suddenly, it reminded me of an incident that happened many years ago - when we lived in Michigan and had come to attend a regional Samagam in Chicago.
After the Samagam, we were supposed to stay at Dr. Kalra's home.
It was quite late at night. I had never been to their house before, so he asked me to follow his car.
At one point, he crossed the yellow traffic lights, but because of the distance between our cars, when I reached near the crossing, the traffic light turned red. I was not familiar with that area; neither had the GPS nor their address - so, in a state of panic, I crossed the red signal.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a cop came behind and pulled me over. I explained to him the situation; that I was following a friend - that I did not have his address, and that I had small children with me - but he did not listen and gave me a ticket anyway.
In the meantime, when Dr. Kalra ji noticed that we were not behind him, he turned around and came back looking for us. This time, we all were more careful and reached to his house safely.
The next morning, when we were driving back to the Bhavan, we saw a funeral procession at a crossroad intersection. We had stopped at the traffic signal, and the funeral procession was crossing in front of us.
There were almost a hundred cars following behind the casket van. The traffic signal turned red for them, but everyone kept going thru the red light. There were two police cars on the side of the road, looking at them, but they did not proceed to stop anyone.
"Papa - Look, they are all going through the red light. How come the cops are not stopping them"?
My children asked.
I said because these cars are following a funeral procession - see, there is a dead body in the black car in the front carrying the casket. The cars which are following it - are allowed to continue to drive - so they all can reach at the funeral place together.
"So, is it okay to go through the red light if you are following a dead body?" My daughter asked.
I thought - Strange, isn't it?
You can cross the red signal lights if you are following a dead body but not if you are afraid of getting lost and following a living person for directions.
It seems strange, but that's how it is.
That's how we behave in day to day life as well.
The past always looks glorious to us. We usually try to glorify the great people, heroes, and saints from the past, but we do not have much regard for contemporary ones.
We praise and worship the dead Saints and heroes while we envy and resent the living ones.
We are usually jealous of the learned and talented people who are with and around us now. We may even hate them, but once they are gone - once they are dead, they become quite admirable and worthy of our praise and utmost respect.
We are a living society that admires and worships - not the living - but the dead ones.
' Rajan Sachdeva '
Suddenly, it reminded me of an incident that happened many years ago - when we lived in Michigan and had come to attend a regional Samagam in Chicago.
After the Samagam, we were supposed to stay at Dr. Kalra's home.
It was quite late at night. I had never been to their house before, so he asked me to follow his car.
At one point, he crossed the yellow traffic lights, but because of the distance between our cars, when I reached near the crossing, the traffic light turned red. I was not familiar with that area; neither had the GPS nor their address - so, in a state of panic, I crossed the red signal.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a cop came behind and pulled me over. I explained to him the situation; that I was following a friend - that I did not have his address, and that I had small children with me - but he did not listen and gave me a ticket anyway.
In the meantime, when Dr. Kalra ji noticed that we were not behind him, he turned around and came back looking for us. This time, we all were more careful and reached to his house safely.
The next morning, when we were driving back to the Bhavan, we saw a funeral procession at a crossroad intersection. We had stopped at the traffic signal, and the funeral procession was crossing in front of us.
There were almost a hundred cars following behind the casket van. The traffic signal turned red for them, but everyone kept going thru the red light. There were two police cars on the side of the road, looking at them, but they did not proceed to stop anyone.
"Papa - Look, they are all going through the red light. How come the cops are not stopping them"?
My children asked.
I said because these cars are following a funeral procession - see, there is a dead body in the black car in the front carrying the casket. The cars which are following it - are allowed to continue to drive - so they all can reach at the funeral place together.
"So, is it okay to go through the red light if you are following a dead body?" My daughter asked.
I thought - Strange, isn't it?
You can cross the red signal lights if you are following a dead body but not if you are afraid of getting lost and following a living person for directions.
It seems strange, but that's how it is.
That's how we behave in day to day life as well.
The past always looks glorious to us. We usually try to glorify the great people, heroes, and saints from the past, but we do not have much regard for contemporary ones.
We praise and worship the dead Saints and heroes while we envy and resent the living ones.
We are usually jealous of the learned and talented people who are with and around us now. We may even hate them, but once they are gone - once they are dead, they become quite admirable and worthy of our praise and utmost respect.
We are a living society that admires and worships - not the living - but the dead ones.
' Rajan Sachdeva '
This observation is very common in indian houseolds when they do the rituals called Shraadh... for their parents who have died while no care was taken when they were alive. Society hardly give respect to the living beings be it your relatives,heroes,saints etc
ReplyDeleteWell said ji. Very true.
ReplyDeleteजब आये तब बात न सुनते, मरे तो पीछे चलते है
ReplyDeleteकहे 'अवतार' जगत में मूरख आज भी मन की करते है
Truely said
ReplyDeletePacks a nice punch to the gut
ReplyDeleteit was fear of being lost which forced to cross red light, if you could have removed sense of fear or a moment every thing would have fallen in line,the person who was piloting you should have stopped at yellow line anticipating your arrival where he lacked,but as you choose fear instead of God it happened , so my experiences with truth are that its our choices which make things happen so here Gyan comes in to play,any way you have more wisdom and experience God bless and thanks Gurinder S lali advocate Chandigarh
ReplyDeleteYou have very aptly with a very simple analogy communicated a very deep issue. Thank you for highlighting it. I pray I learn to value those around me and learn from them.
ReplyDeletePlease keep writing.
So true ji, worshipping the past and fear for future. Most of the decisions we take is out of fear - fear of loosing something! ������
ReplyDelete