Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Burning Pyre of Life.

Manikarnika Ghat.
If anyone has ever been to Manikarnika Ghat, which is where the Hindus burn the dead, with the very elaborate rituals to attain the Moksha, Nirvana and freedom from rebirths. As per the claims, the fire at pyre has never died out since the ancient times. So, life at the ghat where dead are burnt has never been still. So the ghat for the dead has never been devoid of life. Life and death and death and life! Are they not the constant companions? Banaras is the place to watch it, feel it, to die and get revived a thousand times. While you stand at the ghat and look at the fire , you feel the void in you, which is as empty as the hands of the dead man, lying in front of you. You realize in those moments that abundance of life is not in the riches in life , but the richness in life. If you stay there for sometime, odds are in the favor of one becoming the lover of truth, a philosopher. But the empty hands of a dead man reflects the emptiness in us and we feel scared and run away to a bustling lane or to watch the children jumping into the river.
Banaras beckons many to die and at the same time travelers flock from all over the world to see the life. Is there a city in the world where people gather to die and experience life, though both are the same things. Death merges into life and vice a versa.
Oh Banaras...!!!

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