The gift of life

Life is a gift that is bestowed upon us. There are a few things about life that we have no control over. We do not decide where we will be born and when; who our parents will be and what our gender will be. Is it just by chance that somebody is born in Africa or Japan? Or poor or rich? In a good family or a troubled family?

Although there is no scientific proof, but it seems quite obvious that just like we believe in the Law of Gravity through inference, life happens based on our Karma or our past actions. The Law of Action and Reaction, Cause and Effect states, 'What you give is what you get.' It is this Law that ensures that apples don't grow on mango trees. The Law of Karma seems to be universally in force in this world and it controls the destiny of our life.

Nothing in life is certain. We may be happy or unhappy, a success or a failure, healthy or sick, but one thing is certain - death. Nobody can escape out of life alive. The day we are born, we are sure that we will die, but we don't know when. How we are born and how and when we will die are two things that are beyond our control, unless we unnaturally inflict death upon ourselves.

We human beings are blessed with this gift of life. We are the only unique ones who are given the gift of the intellect. We can choose and discriminate between right and wrong, good and bad, the truth and the myth. We have been blessed with a choice to act based on our thoughts, our feelings, and our decisions. This is the most unique feature of human life. Animals can't discriminate and choose, nor can plants and trees, although they too live, they too have a life, and they too die.

A human body is a unique creation of the Divine. Although our conception is due to an act of copulation of our parents, they are not in command of the creation of life in us. We celebrate our birthday on the day we are delivered on earth but our date of conception is about 9 months before that. Our life starts as a zygote, a tiny cell that is formed with the union of two cells after fertilization.

The zygote becomes an embryo and then the foetus. During this process, all our organs are formed within the womb of our mother. Therefore, we believe that it is our parents who created us. Most of us don't realize that life itself is Divine. However much parents may try or want to conceive a child, unless there is Divine intervention, there can be no 'Life'.

Life is a journey between birth and death. Although we were kicking in our mothers' womb, we start living only after we are released into the world. Our journey starts as a little child and our parents control our life till we grow up when we take charge of our life. In that sense, our life becomes our life only after we cross our teens. Till then, we live, we play, and we have fun. But we don't even know what life is all about. Children don't live with worries of the past and fear of the future. Thus they are always in joy and peace living life moment by moment.

There are many things that we can choose in life. While we cannot choose our gender or the religion that we are born into, we have a choice to believe or not to believe in God. Whether we choose to or not, we are empowered to do what we want, to go where we like, and to build relationships of our choice. Everybody's life doesn't have the same freedom. It is influenced by our family, our society, culture, religion and even the country we live in. But one thing is sure, our life belongs to us.

There are some people who do not realize that the biggest treasure that they possess is 'Life'. There is nothing more valuable than life itself. Still, there are many who just exist. They don't truly live. They kill time as life flows by like a river. It empties into the ocean at death.

Have you taken charge of your life? Do you treasure the biggest gift you are blessed with? Have you understood the true meaning of life, 'Who are you and why are you here?'. If not, it's time to wake up and begin your quest - Ask, Investigate and Realize the Truth! It is only when we realize the truth that we will be able to live meaningfully and purposefully, with peace, joy and bliss! It is only when we realize that we are not who we appear to be, not the body, mind and ego, but the Divine Soul, that we will experience eternal happiness!