A Crash Course on Life....and Death

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

A Dreamliner crashed at the Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, barely two minutes after the take off, killing 241 out of 242 people on board. The lone survivor, a passenger sitting by the window seat, proved just one thing that every death is timed. That the crash shattered many a dreams is besides the point. That this was one of the worst Air tragedies in India has also no meaning. That the Boeing 787 is one of the safest aircraft with a very clean record also makes little sense. What matters is that this is how life is. Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON, has explained this very succinctly in these words -- ‘Life is a question no one can answer, Death is an answer no one can question.’ Those who died in the crash did not include only the passengers travelling in the aircraft. There were some other victims too, the hapless residents of the nearby houses on which the flight crashed. Hard to imagine that those not flying could also die in an air crash.

Words cannot describe the enormity of the accident. Call it a huge catastrophe, or call it an unmitigated disaster, the impact remains the same. Lives lost, families ruined, individuals shocked. Even as experts look for answers to the question what went wrong, the one lesson that this grim tragedy reminds of is - this is life, a one ball game. Like a game of cricket, chance plays a decisive role. One moment you are going strong and in the next ball you are declared out. While the media tries to draw the world's attention to the statistics of past disasters, the Airline company announces compensation to the families that lost their near and dear ones to provide solace. But there are some very poignant lessons that unravel the philosophical truth behind life. These lessons, of course, are not going to offer any big succour to those pained by the tragedy, but they do offer some valuable insights that may help demystify the mystery of life, and death, too. Yes, these lessons are there in every such catastrophic incident but every time a tragedy strikes we are reminded of the simple yet very powerful rule of life. The certainty of mode and time of death. The 15th century Indian mystic poet Kabir, whose two line couplets are ever relevant, explains this reality through his popular two liner that is paraphrased below--

What you propose to do tomorrow, do it today,

what you propose to do today, do it now.

The deluge can strike the next moment,

When will you do it.

In the Indian Epic Ramcharitmanas this truth is very poetically summed up through a couplet that is paraphrased below-

Only that will happen which God has destined.

Looking for logical explanations can only add to complexity.

Life is so uncertain, that the only certainty seems to be Death in this mortal world. Every moment you survive is a miracle so express your gratitude to God for this. The two most important words to be spoken most frequently are ‘Sorry’ and ‘Thank you’. ‘Sorry’ to those whom your actions have hurt and ‘Thank you’ to those whose support makes life possible. And the number is uncountable.

The final take in the words of Gandhi is-

‘Work as if you are going to live forever, live as if you are going to die tomorrow.’