Balu Vijay | Postal Manager

What is death? What happens when we die?

Birth and death are the terms coined for all living biological things. In physical or materialistic terms the function of change is constant and hence, anything formed constantly undergoes or is transformed into another material or shape and nothing destroyed. That is the rule of nature. In living organisms the evolution is a constant process in which birth and demise of all biological things constitute major factors.

Materialistically when a biological system looses 'life', the system degenerates and becomes the material basement for supporting another arriving thing with 'life'. This cycle shall go on as long as a supporting world exists such as Earth.

We, the humans are also not exempted since we too are the biological elements of this life cycle. We humans eventually differ from all the living things since we have the power of 'thinking' which lacks in all other living things. Due to that we all have a virtual process named 'mind' in that the human system which is certainly put out when the physical body fails to support it. That is coined as 'Death' of a physical body and the 'mind' of that body is not available any more.

The 'mind' through the body constantly observes both birth and death of other living things including fellow humans. Being a social animal, humans build relationships with both living and materialistic things. While welcoming a new birth with a challenge/new relationship the same human mind is very perplexed, confused and scared due to its inability to reason when death arrives in all its formats.

In all their encounters, the human race has been able to solve many mysteries and made tremendous advances in every front of our living life today. To the extent of engineering a birth of a child or creating ultimate changes in DNA etc. Yet regarding death and its aftermath, is still suspense to mankind. When physical reasoning fails, philosophical reasoning takes over.

To some death is a relief from their volatile pains, for others death is an escape route, but for the majority of mankind, death is a taboo. In some beliefs mind doesn't die and it takes into another physical body once the current one is worn out.

In another one it is being termed as heaven & hell where we are placed according to our living style of do goods and bads. There may be more and more such philosophies but in reality none came back to say they are real.

All these assumptions are made and prophesied to maintain the peace at mind because of its constant worrying of death. Humans so far never conquered death but are able to delay it for now.

In my opinion death is a full stop or an ultimate end of a mind connected to a physical body along with it. After that demise the dead ones are just memories to the other living ones. Death is a one way traffic in which no retracing is possible. Death is part of the evolution process and is inevitable. We have to face it. We have to 'live' with it.

—Balu Vijay (2015)

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