We have just ONE life

Sometime ago I was reading a post in Facebook about Steve Jobs’ realization of value of life when he was in his death bed. He penned down his last moment thoughts about wealth and importance of love for relatives and friends in one’s life. It was a touching realization of a dying man who once was the epitome of ego, arrogance and shrewdness.

Like Steve most of us spend our lives in search of happiness through material achievements. Money buys us material comfort, security and cushioning for the future. However, money also causes more want of money. Our need then transforms to ‘we wish’. Wish to have more and more possessions gives birth to several vices than virtues.
What I find interesting is the fact that we all are to some extent guilty of these vices. We all want wealth; some of us are not even bothered about the sanctity of the path of such wealth creation. As vices come alongside wealth, conscience takes a back seat to gradually make way for greed, dark desires, mountain high ego, meanness, hatred and anger.

Are you not suffocating already thinking of a life full of all these negative vibes? Well, I am. If we come to think of it, we have just ONE life with the realisation of our present identity in this birth. I do not know who I was in my past life; I also do not know who I shall be in my next life. Even if I know, I shall not be the same person with same thoughts and same frame of mind living in the same circumstances. I therefore, have just ONE life to live, so why waste it by giving in to the vices and not enriching my life with the virtues and good deeds. I do not know what reward is waiting for me in the next birth for doing some good deeds now, but I do know that the inner peace and happiness I get by refusing to surrender to at least some of the vices are unparalleled and unfathomable. It is liberating and humbling. It is one step forward in the direction of reaching out to Him. I pray with all my heart’s intent, may He show me the way to connect with Him.