Decoding Life After Loss: A Daughter's Meditative Journey

The mountains will call me soon. Before that I have to sit and meditate about the reality in which I was born, and around which my life shaped. It was indeed one of the greatest losses in life - when my father left the world peacefully like a mystic but without any last words for me. My wisdom dawns on me the knowledge that in this world of illusions death is an exit route through which humans leave the circle of life and experiences on earth. My father's way of leaving has been a topic of discussion in Netaji Nagar, Kolkata - he left alone on his bed without a sign of pain, rather his face showed peace and triumph.

People say it was the best way for those who are kind and without sins. Perhaps my father accepted death when he saw it was coming, perhaps he decided to leave so that I can learn more about life in this lifetime. What if my father was an instrument in my life to help me to grow and analyse human existence?

Since he left, each night and early morning I meditated and thought of what we both shared as a father-daughter duo. We had so much in common and yet we had our fights too. Whether we loved each other or not, I cannot say but we definitely understood each other. We shared a bond which was quite rare and even exhausting for both of us at times. Now that I am no longer thinking like his daughter, but introspecting a relationship on earth - I see that we both helped each other to grow and break Karmic waves that we must have created in other dimensions.

I am left without my parents. I had never imagined that I would encounter a truth like this so early in this lifetime, yet since I did - I need more time to decode the meaning of having parents and then not having them. Millions of people have lost their parents, they have cried and suffered. They have lost hope and given up. They have restarted life, they have stopped crying, they have gone back to old lives, they have continued their work. They have married and given birth. And here I am, waiting for a voice to tell me what to do next.

A life must have one strong goal. My goal was my father and his breath. Now I have no endline to reach, for I have bid him goodbye. However, my father always said that it is important to work, to set goals and to achieve them. A dream can break and scatter, yet the essence of that dream will always remain instilled in the core of heart. My dream is to survive and build a few paths in this world which could be alternative choices for humans - to take or not take the paths - will be their decision but those paths will take them to 'self-reflections'; the very first step is to listen to the family members and not judge them or take them for granted. The parents want nothing, only an assurance that their children are happy and successful. Even though at times it is quite a mammoth task to be successful, yet keeping the parents comfortable is not a very difficult work.

We have to bring changes in this world, in our own society. Only then peace will bloom like leaves on trees and a feeling of regret will not exist in the human world. Parents will not live forever, neither will children do... but a promise can be passed from generation to generation - 'care for them who care for you, never abandon them for nothing is permanent in this world, and none must regret the actions of their own'.