A few months back while meditating I had a sudden thought/realization. We've heard since childhood that God is there in each one of us. He is there not only in human beings but also in animals, insects, plants, trees and in fact in every living being. This is what we have learnt since childhood. A number for religious books support this concept- ईशा वास्यमिदम् सर्वम् यत्किञ्चित जगत्यां जगत् Isha vasyam idam sarvam yet kinchit jagatyam jagat. God lives in everything that is in the world.
While
meditating it suddenly occurred to me that yes there is something in us that
creates living material out of dead things. One of the definitions of God we
have got, is that God can put life into dead. While meditating I suddenly
realized that we all have this power. He has given this force to all of us and to
all living beings. Let me explain like this in the following paragraphs.
Let's
take the weight of a newborn child – (say) around three kilograms. By the time
the child is 25 or 30 years old he or she weighs about (say) 60 Kg. In other words,
the weight of the child has gone up by about 57 kilograms. If we deduct say 5
or 7 kilograms to account for dead material in the body that make up nails,
dead skin, hair, waste material etc., we can say that the person has added
about 50 Kgs of live material to the body. This was not there when she/he was
born.
We
also know that no one eats anything live. We all eat dead material be it the meat
or vegetables or fruits etc. Even if something live slips down our throat soon
the stomach acids skill it. From the stomach the dead material is then pushed further
into the system, the nutrients are absorbed, and the waste material is pushed out/excreted.
The
body produces live material (different live cells in the body) out of the dead
things that we eat. This ability of body to create living material out of dead
is the divine power that God has given to each one of us. This exists in all of
us - small or big; young or old, irrespective of nationality, race, caste or
creed.
While
there are many ways to define death. In the context of the above it is to say
the body’s power to convert ‘dead material to live’ is gone. The ability of body to convert dead material into
life ceases to exist when a person dies. In other words when this divine power
leaves the body the person is dead.
Let
us look at other creatures on this planet. What has been said about us is true
of every animal, insect, plant, bird or for that matter every living being.
Dogs, cows, elephants, ants, birds, lizards, mosquito etc all have this divine
power to convert dead material to live cells. Look at the plants what we give
them in the form of manure etc is nothing but dead and decayed material. What
do they produce – stem, leaves, flowers and fruits.
One
day when the plant is cut or it dries up, it will decay and be turned into
manure. Another plant taking that as an input will give us flowers and fruits
etc. of that plant. What was a mango tree may decay and the manure be put in a
papaya tree to produce Papaya fruit. The form changes.
In
fact, when you meditate on this further you will realize that the distinction
of dead and alive too is artificial one because we take short time span into consideration.
If we take longer time span that meaning too will change. Will write about that
in the next piece.
