Live Life & Embrace Death, Naturally....as it comes by !!!

Paul, the Octopus had become a household name after his accurate predictions in the last World Cup Football 2010. So much was written on him & so many interesting stuff had started in his name.
A friend of mine in FB had suggested trying "Paul the Psychic" just a few days back & I decided to do so yesterday late evening. It was quite interesting & I laughed at the results.
I dont know whether it is coincidental or accidental or suggestive, but today morning, I opened the newspapers to read that Paul, the Octopus has expired !!!! A regular Octopus life span is between 18-24 months, & Paul lived from Jan'08 to Oct'10....around 33 months. So obviously much longer than a regular life span, but his death leaves a spooky coincidence with me. I had just asked Paul about my future ahead, & he died!!!! Remember Muqaddar ka Sikandar....the Amitabh Bachhan blockbuster of late 70's, with some immortal songs. In that movie, towards the end, Sikandar,(Amitabh Bacchan), having lost Zohra(Rekha)someone very close, goes to Fakir Baba(Kader Khan) & asks about the future, only to see that Fakir Baba is also dead.....& finally the movie ends, with Sikandar dying in his friend's arms, with the famous Kishore Kumar song going....Zindagi toh bewafa hai, ek din thukrayegi, Maut mehbooba hai apne saath leke jaayegi.....,(Life is going to betray you someday, Death is your true love as it will take you along.......)

Actually, I have heard of quite a few deaths around me over the last few days, & some of them have been rather close to me....its been like a spate of such bad news !!! & I seem to be getting continous premonitions !!!! With too many incidents in the recent past, I am clearly struggling.....
Guess, the still silence & absolute certainity of death, is at times rattling. Maybe, thats the reason, most of us are unable to come to terms with this phenomena......While, each one of us knows that death is an absolute happening for all of us, we dont seem to accept it.
Since the inception of Life, through generations, we have kept attempting to defy death, relentlessly, while, the God of Death must be just smiling at the endeavours. All we have achieved is to prolong the agony......only to be consumed eventually.....hey all this is so depressing...& I dont intend to sound like one !!!!
Am sure my future does not lie in the hands(I mean tentacles)of Paul......its more likely Paul...Omi..Gosh !!!!( as Guruji would put it!!!!)....not many would understand this wisecrack though...hahahahohohehehehihi....

Having read & taken inspiration from Bhagwat Gita from my childhood, I repose in my faith. Some extracts from Chapter 2, Shankhya Yoga :
He who lives the inner life knows that death is truly his resting-room. To him, death is anything but extinction. It is a meaningful departure. When our consciousness is divinely transformed, the necessity of death will not arise at all. To transform life, we need Peace, Light, Bliss and Power. We cry for these divine qualities. while they cry for our aspiration. They are equally anxious to grant us everlasting life. But until our body, vital, mind, heart and soul aspire together, the divine Power, Light, Bliss and Peace cannot possess us.

The body has death, but not the soul. The body sleeps, the soul flies. "Even as man discards old clothes for the new ones, so the dweller in the body, the soul, leaving aside the worn-out bodies, enters into new bodies. The soul migrates from body to body. Weapons cannot cleave it, nor fire consume it, nor water drench it, nor wind dry it." This is the soul and this is what is meant by the existence of the soul. "Death, has no separate existence by itself, it is only an absence of life"
What we call death is nothing short of ignorance. We can solve the problem of death only when we know what life is. Life is eternal. It existed before birth and it will exist after death. Life also exists between birth and death. It is beyond birth and death. Life is infinite. Life is immortal.
This second chapter throws considerable light on Sankhya (knowledge) and Yoga (action). Sankhya and Yoga are never at daggers drawn. One is detached meditative knowledge, and the other is dedicated and selfless action. They have the self-same Goal. They just follow two different paths to arrive at the Goal.
To come back to the sense-life. Sense-life is not to be discontinued. Sense-life is to be lived in the Divine for the Divine. It is the inner withdrawal, and not the outer withdrawal, that is imperative. The animal in man has to surrender to the Divine in man for its total transformation. The life of animal pleasure must lose its living and burning breath in the all-fulfilling life of divine Bliss.

According to Katha Upanishad :
"Higher than the senses are the objects of sense, Higher than the objects of sense is the mind, Higher than the mind is the intellect, Higher than the intellect is the Self, Higher than the Self is the Unmanifest, Higher than the Unmanifest is the Supreme personified, Highest is this Supreme, the Goal Ultimate".
Bhagwat Gita further tells: "Dwelling on sense-objects gives birth to attachment, attachment gives birth to desire. Desire (unfulfilled) brings into existence the life of anger. From anger delusion springs up, from delusion the confusion of memory. In the confusion of memory the reasoning wisdom is lost. When wisdom is nowhere, destruction happens within, without, below and above."
So let us all pine for salvation. The disciplined, self-controlled aspirant alone will be blessed with ultimate peace. He will eventually be embraced by Salvation, the inner Illumination.