Saw a Tamil Funeral Procession today and it got my thoughts running wild. Its not the first time, just that I chose to put it down now. Anyone from any part of the world would be stunned to see these processions. Complete with Fireworks, Drums, Loud music, dancing people. It is no less than a North Indian Wedding procession (Baarat). One would wonder why all the joy and celebration for someone who passed away. Was he such a bad man that people are happy he died. Most of the people would think that ways. Reason being we can not accept death as a good thing. The only emotions that death can bring to us are fear, sorrow, worry, frustration all negative. Death can never bring any kind of positive thoughts in our mind. And thus a tamil funeral procession also, only brings across negative emotions. Was he a horrible person, are these guys so insentive that they are celebrating his death, how mean could the dead person's family be etc. all negative thoughts. We can't even for once think of a positive reason for the celebrations and display of joy.
This is probably one place where we have failed as human beings. Different religions put it differently, passage to heaven, nirvana, moksha all mean the same thing in the end. For a well lived life, death is like a reward. The problem comes with the definition of a well lived life and our own low levels of confidence when it comes to gauging our own lives. This is where the fear of being denied at the gates of heaven comes across as the fear of death itself. We start to question the basic known facts like the inevitability of death. We act foolish and present ourselves and our loved ones with a painful passage from this world.
This is where celebrating the gift called life comes into picture. If one can accept the fact that death is inevitable and celebrate every moment given in the form of life, then the closing ceremony of life could be a grand celebration. It is like our infamous CWG. There were many uncertainties leading to CGW, many questions raised if it would even take off, yet the games had a grand opening ceremony , very synonymous with the uncertainty and complications that can lead to ones birth and then the wide spread celebrations of the birth. The games went on with its share of successes, failures, blunders, controversies, and foreseen investigations and court cases, but still the moments of success and joy that the games brought was given a fitting grand closing ceremony. Same goes for us humans. All we can do is to try and live our lives to the fullest. There many be aspects of our life that are not in our hand, we may have made blunders under the impression that we are living life to the fullest, and failed in our lives but there would those moments of small successes, small victories, smiles and joys that life has given us which deserves a grand closing ceremony. A Death that is devoid of fear, devoid of dissatisfaction, devoid of sorrow and frustration, a death which celebrates the good things about the life one has lived.
A funeral ceremony with drums, fireworks, song and dance might not appeal to our basic sensibilities but what it brings out is the plain and simple fact that death is a celebration of life, a celebration of all that life has given and a celebration of a zillion moments. Looking at death in this perspective some how tends to justify the expression of joy and exuberance while facing death.
