A house is not a home

 

                        A house is not a home if no one lives there

While watching a young woman who left her home when she came of age with only few dollars in her pocket and an address far from where she was born where she bought an old rusty houseboat falling apart for only ten dollars. Slowly but steadily, she rebuilt her houseboat after several months of hard work. People came to see her newly reborn gleaming houseboat she built with love and care because she had learned from experts how to rebuild a worn-out rusty boat no one was interested in buying and restoring. I started to think about how our parents built our home

So, my memories came back in a rush about a house my parents built with love, care and a lot of sacrifice. I was 12 years old so I was very excited when our new house started to come up and could not wait for it to be ready someday because it was to be our house for the first time in our life. We had to live in rented houses in a different part of the city, so we had to adjust to our new surroundings and get to know other residents.

At first, it was a three-bedroom house with a kitchen and a bathroom with a veranda in the front and a veranda in the inner part of the house that served as our dining area. The roof was flat like other houses, although the stairs were not done properly, and we had no electricity for more than one year, but we did not mind at all and were delighted to live in our own house for the first time. 

It was my job to get kerosene and fill up all the lanterns in the evening after cleaning the soot from its glass and place the lamps in rooms. We did not mind the lamps either and did our homework and studies in its pale light. We had no screens in the doors and windows either, so the mosquitos and flies had a field day to make our life miserable, but it still was our home.  Mom was very proud of our home, and she kept it clean and neat. My father after his retirement sat in his chair in the front porch and received his visitors who stopped by frequently.

We did not have fancy beds to sleep on, but we had hard beds and just a pillow, and we tolerated the mosquitoes, flies and the hard beds because it was our home and we were proud. My father saved his money to build the house on the lot he purchased near the main road, so the location was excellent. When he was short, it was Mom who gave him her gold jewelries to get the cash, so it was her sacrifice and effort so that one day we could have our own home.

As we started to grow up, we went to different schools for our primary and secondary education and later to colleges. Our parents never missed to pay for our school and later college expenses although we knew that it was hard for them to manage it with their limited resources, so we were very grateful to them and never asked for money from them. 

After many years I graduated from college and went to Vietnam as an agronomist, but our father had died before I could go abroad. I wrote about it all in my biography, so it is not necessary to repeat them here. I just want to write about the time I spent in our new home from the age of 12 to the age of 23 when I left India.  Our three sisters were married so they lived in their own places, but I still had two brothers and two sisters. We did not have television but had a radio that we turned on mostly for music.

One year after we moved in, the electric wiring was done so one day we were connected and had bright light in all the rooms and the kerosene lamps were retired. I bought a tube light and fixed it on the wall and father bought ceiling fans for the rooms. Slowly our home started to look like a comfortable home with a neat garden in the front where I planted a grape vine and a mango tree. My brother planted roses and other plants.

I brought from abroad a fancy record player, stereo speakers and electronic amplifier made in France, Holland and England. It was the first stereo in our neighborhood that people on the road stopped to listen to.  Whenever I visited India, I brought with me other things like a Kodak slide projector, radios, tape recorders SLR cameras, watches etc. Later I built the second floor of the house for which I bought furniture, a bicycle and a motorbike and many other things because it was still our home.

My brother once bought an old organ that was collecting dust in someone's house, so we pumped the pedal furiously to get some sound out of the reeds, but it was hopeless. The sound box could not keep the air because it had cracks that was not fixed but it was fun and brought some gaiety. Later a television was bought but slowly they abandoned the stereo, the slide projector and other things I had brought from many countries. They were not interested in looking at photos from other countries.

Then one day the house was sold. Our parents and many sisters died so there was no one to live in that big two storied house anymore. We had made our life here in the Philippines so all connection to my hometown was lost.

Lately I searched the Google earth and found our house and was shocked. Google earth photos are in color and have very high resolution. I saw the house in a pitiful condition. The mango tree I planted is still seen and another tree is shown in the front that I don't know who planted. The paints have peeled off giving the house an abandoned look that made me sad. So many memories flashed back when I was there as a 12-year-old, but it seems that the new owner does not live there so the house is locked up.

I can imagine the inside where the rooms are thick with dust, and the ceilings are full of cobwebs that spiders make. The mouse and cockroaches are freely wandering around. The dark house during the night gives it a haunted look. The garden is full of weeds and wild plants. Once it was a lively place full of music and laughter but now it is no longer a home because a house is never a home if no one lives there.

  

What is life

 

                                           Evolution of life from birth to death

We all know a basic fact of life. We know that once we are born, we live for a certain length of time and then die one day. This is also true of all living beings be they insects, animals or even plants. Each one is born with the fact that one day they will perish and they will be replaced by the next generation. This fact is eternal because we see and find the remains of those perished but left their bones or history written on walls, in caves or in written documents for the generations coming after them to know about them.

Some have perished due to wars and the famines or the epidemic of diseases while others died due to other causes from time to time but most people today die of old age or diseases caused by eating unhealthy food or introduced virus like COVID that caused a worldwide epidemic .There are those who have died due to accidents or during terrorist attacks on innocent people and those who decided that their life was not worth anything anymore, so they ended it.

So, we ask the question what life is and how it sustains us and why one day it decides to leave our body. The answer to this question is not so simple because there are numerous reasons why the life leaves our body as I have enumerated in the previous paragraphs.

If you consider our physical body is nothing but a composition of organs that continue to function to keep our body in good shape and healthy but a time comes when these organs start to wear down due to food we eat or what we think as food that are detrimental to the functions of the various organs so they start showing signs of wear and loss of functions . The heart slows down so the blood is not pumped efficiently. The kidneys malfunction, the liver no longer works efficiently, the immune system deteriorates so various germs and infections start making problems. The overall effect of all these difficulties makes the body, and its various functions deteriorate and eventually your life comes to an end.

But those who are healthy, also die one day because of old age although they may live a bit longer than those who are malnourished or have bad habits of not eating proper and nourishing food and hurt their organs with alcohol, smoking and drugs.

So, what is this life we talk about and why and when it leaves our body? In Sanskrit it is called Prana that is explained as energy that is found in every living being that keeps our body alive up-to a certain time. Then one day it leaves our body when the body deteriorates to the point when its organs cannot support it any longer.

Prana leaving the body after death

So, what happens to this bundle of energy or Prana after it leaves the body? Where does it go? Does it seek a new body somewhere? Does it reincarnate itself by giving new life to a baby that is under the process of developing in the womb somewhere?

There are numerous reports of children who remember who they were in the past and give detailed description of where they lived in the past, what was their name and how they died so some people go to verify and find the truth. It verifies the ancient belief that the life or the Prana is eternal and often comes back with a new body, so this cycle of birth and death continues to some extent.

Hindus believe that the Prana often becomes free and does not return with a new body so they pray and do penance to reach the state of Nirvana for the soul or Prana so that their soul will be free from the cycle of life and death forever. They go to bathe in Holy rivers and make pilgrimage to pray at numerous temples for the freedom of their soul. No one really knows if it works.

The science says that the energy that floats around us in the Universe is eternal and cannot be destroyed. It can take a new shape for a while, but it cannot be destroyed. This idea that the Prana is eternal gives sustenance to numerous theological beliefs that encourages people to live a healthy and honest life and avoid the sinful life so that their soul or Prana will become free and will not return in another body. It returns when you deserve to be punished for all your sins. It is like a sinful person is given a second chance in his new life to atone for all the bad things he or she had done in their past life.

I have some strange ideas about the soul or Prana that I want to write about here.

At a certain age we all start to think about the end of our life and how it will end. We all wish that we go to sleep one night and do not wake up again, while the Prana leaves a smile on our lips. Mind you, this does not happen to everyone but a few lucky ones. I think it happens to those who have remained honest until their last day and have contributed somehow to make the world a better place for others using their talent, their knowledge gained through education and sacrifice. Such a person dedicates his life to the service for others and is incorruptible. In short, they live their life on their own terms and never compromise their ethics and their helpful nature. Such people are never forgotten so they are revered so their sacrifice and their lifelong struggle for justice and humanity is mentioned in golden letters in the history books. However, history books are often written by biased people or under pressure. Just imagine what would happen to you if you wrote that Genghis Khan was a very bad person?

So, you have to ask yourself this question.

Why I came to this world? Why I was born in a certain family and what was the purpose of my life? If I came with a purpose, then what was it? Did I complete my mission then how many people I was able to help? In what way I was able to help them? These are very valid questions most people do not ask because they did not have a mission or a purpose in their life so they achieved nothing and died leaving nothing behind in the form of a legacy except a faded photograph on the wall that the next generation does not care about so takes it down after some time to stow away in the attic.

I do not like to write about bad people who leave a legacy of crime, sins and dishonesty that leaves a permanent stain on their epitaph to remind how bad the person was.

I write about the common people who may be honest and religious, but who did not help others and opted for a boring life they led. They too left no legacy, so people soon forgot them. They did not teach their offspring good values, decency, honesty, good manners and right conduct so in their adulthood, such children grew up to be monsters earning them disdain and social disapproval.

So, your prana or soul leaves you and your body becomes dust or ashes according to your religion or wishes. Your relatives mourn you or do not mourn you depending on what you have left for them in terms of material wealth. Some will show their greed or disappointment even when the workers lower your remains to a hole 6 feet deep and leave only to forget you after some time. The Hindus do not believe in preserving the body, so they burn it to ashes and throw the ashes in the rivers to pollute its waters. Those who bury the body, do it for rituals and leave, never to return to pay their respect. I have seen plenty of gravestones broken and shattered that no one visits so the weeds take over to hide the sad relics of a person who may have been a good person but now forgotten.

Now your soul is free and starts to wander aimlessly but some people say that it lingers around for a few days near his wife and children but just for a few days. Some souls never become free to wander because they lived a life of sin, so they appear in haunted house as ghosts where they lived before. They wait eternally for redemption and freedom until a priest releases them through exorcism or a Hindu priest using religious rituals forgives them and offers them freedom. Hindus go to Gaya where they perform some religious rituals and offer prayers to their ancestors so that their souls or Prana become free from the cycle of life and death.

The souls or Prana that become free from life and death are those who have spent their life as good people who helped those who needed their help. They earned this reward as freedom.

I often think of whether or not my soul or prana will become free because another life somewhere does not appeal to me. I have seen the world, its evil nature, its corruption, its racism and prejudices. There is no country that is ideal, where there are no corrupt and evil-minded people. If I have to come back again to be born somewhere, then I will have to search for a beautiful country where I will look for a wonderful couple who will raise me to be a wholesome worthwhile being and instill in me a purpose for my life but that is just a wishful thinking. The ideal solution will be if my prana decides not to come back to be born again somewhere then it just becomes a part of the energy that permeates the Universe and twinkles as a star in the galaxy forever. I cannot think of a better way to go out in style.

But I will not know what my Prana decides and I will never be able to share its decision with anyone unless I tattoo the words Amal.wordpress.com on its arm so that my new parents in a distant country will be curious about the blue tattoo on their newborn child and type the link on their computer. Lo and behold, it will open up my entire biography in 6 languages instantly to their surprise, but I am not sure if it will work so I think the easiest way would be to get a tattoo on my arm that my prana or soul will copy and take it to the next level.

However, if someone can tell me how to put a tattoo on the arm of my soul, I will greatly appreciate it because it will save me from getting a painful tattoo on my arm.