Stories of the open road

By Pathum Punchihewa

I remember… Once, one of my friends wrote a song. ‘What if we die, will the sun stop shining? What if we die, will the earth stop whirling? What if we die, will the birds stop singing…’ That was his idea and yes, it was a good song. But it took almost five years for me to understand the true meaning of his words. I believe even he didn’t understand the true meaning behind those words.

People have been asking questions about life for centuries. “What is life?” has been a very famous question and is yet to be answered properly. At least once in a life time, any human may face a situation where he asks that question from himself or from his creator, maybe God or maybe nature.

“What is the purpose of life? I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy.” Dalai Lama said once, in ‘Voices from the Heart; The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living’. I believe those words. Happiness and sadness is like light and darkness. One cannot exist without the other. And if you know the meaning of sadness, you always enjoy happiness.

Let me tell you a story that I have told my sweetheart. “Life is unpredictable. What if I die tomorrow? What if we both are recovering after a bad quarrel and I have nothing to bear with me but sadness in my death? Do my last thoughts about you need to be sour, filled with sadness or regret? No. Life is short, and we don’t have much time to spend to repent and lament. Let’s be happy while we can. And in the end, we can call it, ‘Life’…”

We are in the middle of a great journey and it always has a beginning. Is the beginning of life the day you were born to this world? I’d like to say no. The day your real voyage begins is the day you start to understand your purpose of existence and the true meaning of life. The day you begin to wonder why exactly you came to the world.

Do we need to understand the roots of the universe? Yes, accordingly. But the greatest mysteries of the universe are always hidden within oneself. That’s an adventure worth exploring…

“The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like little children entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. A child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of books, a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.” Those are words of Albert Einstein, wise words.

Never forget my friends; we are in the voyage of life, the greatest odyssey of the universe. Believe that you are precious, start steady from the very first step. The journey is beautiful… and as always the train will stop in a station one day and there will be an announcement for you.. “You have reached your destination, brave passenger…”

Published on  Daily Mirror (24th March 2011)