Tomorrow Never Comes

By S.Sarwar.Malik

One thing noticeably grows in number during winters. I am talking about obituaries, or better use the commonest title,  ‘Demise’ notices carried by our newspapers, daily. 

The English verse ‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind’ conveys Hope; (so to say)new Life; & Future, that much  is true but, dear reader the word winter, that conveys the  opposite, of the word spring is also very much there, in this very line. Can’t  wish it away!

DEATH is a reality that all mortals have to confront, at one time or the other. Truth echoes from the holy words inna lilahi….rajaooen, ‘Unto Him We All Return’. 

Seers say with birth we have already taken our first step towards grave. What we normally call life is the journey from point one, called birth/arrival, to point II, called death/departure. Birth has happened without seeking our consent and likewise death will happen in due course, without seeking our permission. Nothing can be done by us to birth or death as both are beyond our control, where we have no say, and no role. Worrying over these two issues is not only futile but stupidity.

Even when we think on philosophical lines and consider birth as a door through which we enter this phenomenal world, from the plane preceding this world, and consider death another exit point, leading somewhere else, to another dimension of existence then also we can not do anything to the entry/exit point because the faculties we are endowed with for leading life on the phenomenal plane like our five senses, begin in the fetal stage and end on death bed.

Beyond the life on this earth, these faculties do not exist, and non-existent can not help the one that exists. The tools required at other planes must surely be different. However certain higher faculties, superior to the sensory types might be existing -whose byproduct the latter mentioned may be, that are pervading in the stages, preceding and succeeding as well as concomitant to the earthly one. Thus our physical form may be a manifestation of this superior form, whose comprehension our sensory faculties find too difficult a task. Recitation of the holy verses of chapter 2 of Quraan; ‘thou cannot comprehend’…comes alive in the recess of my soul, along with the words ‘All mortals have to taste (the cup of) death.’

A paradoxical situation seems to exist, however, feel whereof comes by the scientific facts emerging in the psycho- somatic field of interaction, that points to the probability that the inferior plane does have the capacity to impact the quality of the superior form. Probably increase or decrease in the luminescence of aura that ‘seers’ have hinted at refers to the symbiotic nature of planes. This susceptibility seems to be the proverbial ‘Achilles heel’, designed and ingrained with intent, bordering callousness and defying rationality, at times.

Having understood that nothing can be done by us to the entry or exit, leaves the middle stage alone where we are capable of doing something. In other words doing or action is possible when we are alive and it holds the prime position. Life provides us a chance to act.

Now actions can be positive or negative. Neutral status also can be included in a sense but largely it amounts to no action, most of the time. Love is positive, hate negative but indifference – neither ‘loving’ nor ‘hating’; a sort of neutrality, though amounting to no- action, undesirable- most of the time. If every action has an effect, positive will breed positivism and negativity will cast us in the negative vortex.

If we ponder a little the right time for good deeds is NOW, this living moment. Yesterday is gone. Past is past for all practical purposes. Tomorrow is yet to come. Future does not exist at this moment. It hasn’t manifested yet. It is still in the womb. Only the present exists. Only the present is present. Yesterday has gone into oblivion, Future is nowhere in sight, only today is real and pulsating with life. In fact when tomorrow comes it will come in the form of today. So the best time for desirable positive actions is now, this very moment. Hence ‘doing good to others now, as we would wish others to do to us is the crux of all holy words, all scriptures, dear reader. 

“5.96 Allah loves those who do good 7: 42 Amilo Saulihaat, deeds of righteousness 16: 97 Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, will be rewarded  according to the best of their actions 28: 84 If anyone does Good, (Allah) rewards him (in a way & proportion) better than his deeds 28: 54 Twice will be their reward (ajr) …for that they AVERT EVIL WITH GOOD ‘

Wherever it is stated that ‘reward will be manifold (- two-fold, ten-fold, hundred-fold…’ ) this in simple words is an inducement to DO GOOD,  always. Even those who have wronged you will undergo a change of heart, and witnessing your good behavior in return of their bad acts, will make the wrong-doers realize their mistake, and accept your magnanimous, superior behavior. Even when some inferior-souls / wrong-doers act stubborn, the stature of the  doer of good deeds will get elevated in the eyes of all the good souls, around,  as well as Almighty Allah and HIS PROPHETS & APOSTLES. One must remember that one of the common distinctive traits of all the Prophets and their apostles was good behavior and it is ehsan  that all of the great men have enjoined on their followers. They are the ‘embodiment of all good’. They are rich in virtues and exhibit distinctively unparalleled  qualities.Their conduct is the best. These exalted men are called Imams, patterns; whose exemplary behavior we, the followers, have to follow. They are our role models and we have to strive & be their true shagird . This is the reason why doing-good unto others has been equated with worship and haqooq ul ebaad stressed, throughout life.

Employing a typical idiomatic language, that (largely) the addressee people could understand and act accordingly, religious books talked about a plethora of topics. Mention of the elements out of which the creator created creation and the sensory faculties endowed to the ‘created’ is there. These faculties endowed to us are the tools which are essential for performing various functions on the mortal plane. Very much possible in other planes these faculties might lose relevance, lose their utility. So one can ponder: won’t these faculties degenerate & decay, here too, on dis-use? ; and get negatively impacted with misuse. Conversely, going on doing good, day in and day out, in all the spheres of life, in hundred different ways will, so to say, sharpen our faculties; make them increase what some writers called ones ‘aura’, depicted in the visual form by painters of yore  as the round halo like luminescence of ones persona as associated commonly with saintly persons.

Limited space in the newspaper, today, won’t allow me to continue further though the Name & form –that defines existence in a philosophical vein  knocks on the door, I better welcome it, next time. Among our readers, there definitely might be a considerable lot of young people, who would be of the age of my children, so I prefer  to conclude today’s write up with the opening and closing verses of a beautiful poem, written prior to 1994 by an accomplished Urdu poet of this continent: yes, you are right…Parveen Shakir [– who had three Masters degrees; was a successful bureaucrat; a recipient of (her country’s ) President’s highest award; authored three volumes of poetry but died in a car accident]. Here I go: 

 Holding a pencil for the first time/

My son asks/

‘What should I write?’//

 What shall I tell You, child/

 …..( my dream- filled child)/

Write ALL beautiful words/

On the page of tomorrow/

T-R-U-T-H (-forever)/

G-O-O-D (-unto others)/

L-O-V-E ( one & all ).///

• S.Sarwar.Malik is a Srinagar based writer who has been contributing  non-political articles and poems to English Dailies, regularly, since two decades

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