Saturday 4 August 2012

One Birth Multiple Deaths

I am a Hindu by birth.  Like almost everyone in the world I did not choose my religion, I was born into it.  Many do not understand this, so, they talk about why their religion is better, and others' are not.

I never spent time learning about Hinduism either.  I studied this as a subject at school till year 10 (or year 8), mostly about miracles GOD has performed, and memorise slogans and verses which praised the GOD and sought a favour from Him.  Till now I believe in God, and the only way I could pray is by reciting verses I learnt.  Although I had been to Churches, and Budhist temples, I am comfortable in a Hindu temple.

Although often I felt the need to learn about my religion, it was never on top of my priority list.  Once I found Rig Veda at an airport shop, bought it, but could not go beyond a few pages.  It was HEAVY stuff.  Then I found another book on Hinduism, which had one liners per page about Hindusim, and that was much easier to comprehend.  Two things I remember from that book, (1) A sin is an act that I commit, against my own conscious, and (2) when we leave, we leave our name alone.

I wanted to write about the second one here.  In my case I have left five countries, three educational institutions, and three jobs.  I would have interacted with thousands, neighbors, teachers, students, colleagues, and they all will remember me in many different ways.  When their memory of me fade, I will die, whether I am physically dead or not.  I will have thousands of deaths.  The person who lost his job because of me, will remember me as an evil, and the guy who got promoted based on my recommendation, will remember me with respect.  The first one will never admit that he lost his job because of his poor performance.

So, even well after my death, I will be remembered by a few, but for a long time.  It could be my grand kid.  I hope the last person to remember me, remembers something positive about me!

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