In Conversation with Jara

There are three main stages in the span of one's life. These are called Sharshav, Yauvan and Jara, childhood, youth and old age. I am in the third stage of my life. One day the old age was steering me in my face. ! became curious. I asked a question, 'Are you satisfied with your past life and have you accomplished all that you wanted?' The reply was in the affirmative. I made the next query. Then what is the justification in living further?' The reply was vague and unexpected; Everything has been done and only one thing remains to be accomplished.'I became pensive. The Oldie Jara recapitulated the entire past life. It narrated the prominent events of childhood spent in a joint family. It reconstructed the days in the school and the college. It narrated the good and the bad, successes and failures, catches and misses in brief, but in a lucid manner. I was mentally transported to the land of my birth, Kashmir, and in a trance relived those wonderful days. For some time, I was back in the gardens full of flowers and blossoms, on the banks of running brooks and treading carefully on the carpets of white snow. Vales and hills, shrines and temples were in front of my eyes. The music, classical and folk, reverberated in my ears. A charming smile spread on my lips from side to side.

Then the Jara brought up the period of youth. Obviously, the marriage, the children, the relatives, friends and acquaintances figured in the narrative. I was reminded of the struggle of life, the decisions taken at different times, some right and some wrong and the opportunities missed, and opportunities exploited at different occasions. I was forced to ponder over all these events and occurrences of my bygone days. Yet, I made it a point not to regret for the mistakes committed, nor to feel proud of the achievements. I heard all that was said to me with rapt attention but in a detached manner as if I was reading a story or a novel or better a biography of a third person, somewhat familiar and somewhat known. The relatives in the family, the friends in society and neighbourhood and the colleagues at the workplace were all before me like a reel on a cinema screen.! was reminded of the bad I had experienced and the good done to me from time to time, but I remained calm as if it was a story of some other person being narrated to me for my entertainment. Yet, I could not help blush at times and feel elated occasionally.

The Jara knew every detail and all this was being stated, enunciated and explained  to me in a great detail.Justification for Just everything done and background the event was put forward very convin almost felt that if all this were to again, it would most probably be, ey same. Many things are commented on in hind sight but things happen the same given situations and circumstances. I'd know whether this feeling was because my mind made me react in the same way as I had done back or in reality I had acted and reacted in the des manner. I also know that nobody can answer this. The wise have always advised not to rue and regret the past events because then one would be living in the past and the present would slip away. So, I listened to all this recapitulation treating it as fiction.

Now it was my turn to repeat the question, 'having done all your duties and having accomplished everything, where is the justification to continue to live? Is it not the time to abandon this body and form and leave this world? But then you say that there is one thing yet to be attained. Pray, what is that?' The Jara smiled and said, 'Have you read the third shloka of Bhagavad Gita, eighth chapter? What does it say?' I said, 'Of course, I have read it. It says: Aksharam Brahma pararam, swabhava-adhyatma muchyate - The Great Lord is imperishable and the perception of the self is spirituality. The reply was abrupt and almost a retort. I was told that the imperishability of the Lord is accepted but has the self been perceived in its reality. Has the true nature and essence of the self been understood and realised? This job is yet to be done and for this purpose to remain embodied till the self is realised is essential and un-avoidable. Suddenly. I was mentally elevated and acknowledged the fact that the body with all its gross and subtle aspects is needed for the purpose of carrying out this spiritual exercise as it is the tool and instrument for this endeavour. This justifies continuing to live in this third stage of life, with all its shortcomings.

I pondered over the matter. I was aware, believer in Karma theory as I am, that the birth, death and the longevity of a person is dependent on his actions, the past and the present, Sanchita, Praarabdha and Agami Karma. There is, however, no harm in seeking release from Him, after one has reached a time when one has no substantial contribution to make. The decision is naturally to be left to Him to take in His unbiased judgment. Yet, I was shaken by this conversation with old age because it made me conscious of the fact that the most important of the acts was still to be carried out. I have not known the self. I cannot say for certain whether it is the same or different from the Great Lord. I do not know if it is Avyaya, unchangeable or otherwise. I have not been able to figure out so far if it is passive or active, born or unborn, perishable or imperishable. I remembered some description given in the Bhagavad Gita about the soul. It is variedly called Dehin, the one embodied, kshetrajna, the one who knows the entire field of human existence. It is also explained therein that it is never born and thus never dies. It neither kills nor gets killed. It changes forms and adopts different bodies to get embodied in. It thinks, desires, acts and carries out various functions through the body and its various faculties but remains unaffected by external elements. Reading this description is all right and useful indeed but investigation We organism is also important to experience the true

Ghazals and nature of this self which is called Swa or Jeevaatma, the soul of the being.

under Therefore, I thought that this conversation was useful and timely. It reminded me that my childhood was spent in learning, acquiring knowledge about the mundane world and in play,

Contact : R fun and frolic. It recapitulated to me how My youth was engaged in earning livelihood, looking after the family, bringing up children and in doing all those jobs which became my duties from time to time. I recollected that I was fortunate to have come across some literature that enjoined upon me to try and investigate into myself. I was also lucky to have met some pious personalities who inspired me for this exercise. Even so the job was undone as emphasised by my old age during this dialogue. It was, therefore, imperative for me to plead with the Great Lord to spare my life for some more time and keep my body physically and mentally fit, till I complete my investigation into the real essence of myself and know the secret of its real nature. I thanked the intelligent and wise Jara to have reminded me of my undone job and unaccomplished object. It helped me to resolve to take this task in hand in the right earnest and try to perceive the mysterious Self. I was reminded of this verse of the great Lal Ded, 'Goran dopnam kunuy vatsun, nyebrai dopnam andar Datsun - my preceptor told me just one thing; he told me to go from without to within'. I will follow suit and do the same. (After having evaluated outside life and duties, the author is moving 'inside' on the pattern suggested by Lall Ded)

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Courtesy:- T.N. Dhar Kundan and Koshur Samachar September ,2018