Philosophy is not taught to all but it is interesting that each human being becomes ‘the best philosopher’ at the hour of death. There is a popular story from the life of Alexander the Great. He was on his way back to home after an expedition. He fell ill and knew that death is drawing close. He called his Generals and said, “I will depart from this world soon. But I have three wishes……” He continued to his Generals, “My first desire is that my physicians alone should carry my coffin. Secondly, the path to my grave should be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones. My third and last wish is that my hands should be kept dangling out of the coffin.” One of the Generals asked him why he has such strange wishes. Alexander took a deep breath and said, “I would like the world to know that no doctor can really save anybody from death; strewing gold, silver and stones on the way is to tell the world that nothing I earned can be taken by me on death. Let people realise that it is sheer waste of time to chase wealth. And about my third wish, I want people to know that I came empty handed and empty handed I go out of this world.”
It was when he found himself in trouble that he realised the truth on life. There could not be many, who haven’t realised the worthlessness of living a life composed of greed and pleasure, at least once in their life. Still why don’t we live a noble life of sharing? It is right here that we experience the strong hold of concepts imprinted within. We are conditioned to believe that only material wealth counts or our only purpose is making life more and more luxurious. We have great difficulty to believe that we are part of the whole Universe and our duty is to serve the purpose we are endorsed with. When we struggle for individual gains, it becomes like all body organs demanding for separate mouths to eat. It is natural in a world where religions exist, indebted to man’s fear of death. Who on earth will redefine joy and revisit the ever present God care? It only will end up philosophers on deathbed; it only will encourage people to experience the God care every moment, for the very simple reason that we are His own creation.
