A Visit to Life
Toronto, Ontario
It is not always easy to enter a home where loved ones have been gripped by the harsh truth of impending death ready to take one of its revered family members. The doctor has said there is only a few days left to live- only a month. For someone like me who takes on a pastoral service (which goes with the territory of being a spiritual leader) or for someone who works in a hospital dealing regularly with people at the brink of passing, death is a regular feature. For some people it is standard fare. You might even think that a type of callousness can take shape.
Today I came to visit such a household whose senior member was detected with a brain tumor. The family accepted courageously the fate that came upon their mother. They showed me a good face. I was impressed with the bonding amongst the group but even more so with the spiritual shelter they had succumbed to. They were making application of the precepts taught to them.
The advantage this family had was that from birth, or by tradition the foundation was a spiritual one. The spiritual channel is always a good formula for life because it helps an individual weather the weather.
"Death is for sure." That was emphatically expressed by Vasudev, the famed father of Krishna, when speaking to Kamsa, the slayer of his sons. Now, how do we deal with this most certain of all sureties? This question we need to be prepared to answer by our actions.
When I entered the home the pervading spirit was positive even though my purpose in coming was death. The family was heroically accepting the inevitable and it showed well especially when they took to the chanting that I facilitated by the grace of Krishna. And she, with the cancer, took to it so well- with bravado.
It was a revelation once again that the use of the chanting process is the most effective means for dealing with the most difficult task.
5 KM
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