A few years ago, a friend of mine started questioning me about one of the most basic questions in Hindu mythology - what happens after your seventh life (since we are supposed to have seven lives and all)? Now I'm not a particular believer in any of this, and in my opinion, when I die, I wipe my slate clean. That's the ultimate price to pay for all of my sins in this life (I mean, what bigger punishment than death, atleast according to most constitutions in the world), and the most important blessing for all the good deeds done in this life ('Moksha' as it is referred to by the ones that believe in it). In either case, I strongly believe that we do not carry our burdens of this life into the next. So I said something to that effect to my friend, but we carried on this random discussion about what kind of lives I could have after this one. It wasn't until a few days later that I had a thought - what if this is my seventh life? What if this is it?! Well, that turned out to be the inspiration for this post. I figured since I (obviously) have no clue about my earlier lives or ones supposedly yet to come, I wanted to create my own little life fiction.
Please note that I started writing this post around that time (when I'd had that chat with my friend). I cannot believe the ridiculous concepts I set to work on sometimes, but I had scribbled down where I was planning to go with this post when I first started. I think I ran out of fresh reincarnation ideas midway through and abandoned it. I was surfing through my unfinished posts (plural because there were two - I deleted the other one, too depressing even by my depressed standards!), and couldn't stop laughing at the stupidity of this one, so I figured I may as well complete it. So here goes...
In my first life I was born a lion - majestic and proud. I was called Simba. I was a great ruler and all my animal subjects loved and respected me. I was brave and fearless. I led them through an era of prosperity and happiness. We lived through times where there was always plenty to eat and harmonious relations among everyone. Eventually I grew old and died, and my rotting carcass was eaten by other animals (in the animal kingdom, if you're dead, you're food!), and my leftovers got dragged to the pretty river that flowed through my kingdom.
Bits of me got buried in the river bed, and over the years I became part of the fertile river bed and in that way, I continued to see my lands and my future generations prosper. By the beautiful force of nature I was still a part of my old life for many years before I moved on to my second life. After so many years of being buried, I grew into a plankton, a small plant eaten by fishes. I joined the river on its journey to the sea. The travel was by no means an easy one. I kept fighting to see the sun every now and then, but the flow of water would keep pulling me back down. It was a constant struggle. A few times when I got too close to the riverside, I was almost left behind until a big surge in the water would pull me back in. Finally we made it to the sea. It was enormous and once you were in it, there was no end, it just seemed to keep going on...I was still quite close to the shore where my river joined the sea, when I was spotted by a school of pretty clown fishes. They played with each other and for some time they even played with me, until one of them ate me and that was the end of my second life.
I disintegrated into the fish's body, and joined its bloodstream and became a part of the fish itself. A few days later, the fish laid a few eggs, and I was one of them. There starts my third life - that of Nemo! For a clown fish, I did a fairly funny job. I had a decent sense of humor and as a result I made a lot of friends. We would go exploring all over the sea and sometimes even go into dark forbidden places. Our elders tried to explain the dangers that lay in the outside world but we hardly paid any heed. One such day, we strayed too close to the pretty beach near our home. As we played near the surface of the water a large colorful and rather fast Kingfisher caught me in its beak and flew away. I struggled for a bit, but without the water it was useless and soon I died from lack of oxygen.
While I became yet another yummy meal, the life cycle continued, and soon I was reborn as a baby bird. When I popped my eyes open, I was trapped in this big white egg that was all around me. I had to butt into it with my head a few times to get it to crack, and then try and spread my tiny wings to push the rest of the shell away from my body. I was an ugly looking tiny bird, but gradually I grew into a beautiful Kingfisher myself. I lived close to a large city atop a tall tree, but right next to the sea. I spent my days flying around and enjoying the view from the clouds. I lived and loved, had a beautiful family, had a good life, and then grew old and died. Ants got to my carcass, and made a feast out of me.
And then the ants got eaten by a worm, which eventually got eaten by a butterfly. And that's how I ended up inside a butterfly. And yes, you get the picture...the butterfly laid eggs, one of which was me and that is how my next life started. I grew into a caterpillar at first, until after a long period of struggle, my beautiful, strong wings grew out, and I was able to spread them wide and fly around again. This time I stayed closer to the ground, I fluttered from bush to bush and got to kiss a lot of pretty flowers. I lived and eventually died in a rose bush, and of course was buried there too.
The rose bush absorbed my essence through the soil, and before you knew it, I was born again as a beautiful red rose. I was a sight to behold and the envy of all other flowers, and the gardener in that park took very good care of me. He watered the bush and pruned the leaves and ensured that no one got to pluck me from the bush until I had the chance to blossom into my full potential.
And once that happened, I got plucked by this amazing man who gave me to his wife whom he loved very much. She cherished me and took care of me for the few days that I was still alive after being plucked out. She was a beautiful woman, a loving wife, and a doting mother. And she was expecting a second child. As I left that life of the rose, she gave birth to a daughter - yep, that's me! I was born into my seventh (last and final) form as Sneha, a Leo, a lover of water and heights and all the pretty things in life, a believer that we only have one life, and most importantly, a gigantic pain in everyone's life. And in this way, my seven lives/my seven incarnations have come a full circle. :)
Please note that I started writing this post around that time (when I'd had that chat with my friend). I cannot believe the ridiculous concepts I set to work on sometimes, but I had scribbled down where I was planning to go with this post when I first started. I think I ran out of fresh reincarnation ideas midway through and abandoned it. I was surfing through my unfinished posts (plural because there were two - I deleted the other one, too depressing even by my depressed standards!), and couldn't stop laughing at the stupidity of this one, so I figured I may as well complete it. So here goes...
In my first life I was born a lion - majestic and proud. I was called Simba. I was a great ruler and all my animal subjects loved and respected me. I was brave and fearless. I led them through an era of prosperity and happiness. We lived through times where there was always plenty to eat and harmonious relations among everyone. Eventually I grew old and died, and my rotting carcass was eaten by other animals (in the animal kingdom, if you're dead, you're food!), and my leftovers got dragged to the pretty river that flowed through my kingdom.
Bits of me got buried in the river bed, and over the years I became part of the fertile river bed and in that way, I continued to see my lands and my future generations prosper. By the beautiful force of nature I was still a part of my old life for many years before I moved on to my second life. After so many years of being buried, I grew into a plankton, a small plant eaten by fishes. I joined the river on its journey to the sea. The travel was by no means an easy one. I kept fighting to see the sun every now and then, but the flow of water would keep pulling me back down. It was a constant struggle. A few times when I got too close to the riverside, I was almost left behind until a big surge in the water would pull me back in. Finally we made it to the sea. It was enormous and once you were in it, there was no end, it just seemed to keep going on...I was still quite close to the shore where my river joined the sea, when I was spotted by a school of pretty clown fishes. They played with each other and for some time they even played with me, until one of them ate me and that was the end of my second life.
I disintegrated into the fish's body, and joined its bloodstream and became a part of the fish itself. A few days later, the fish laid a few eggs, and I was one of them. There starts my third life - that of Nemo! For a clown fish, I did a fairly funny job. I had a decent sense of humor and as a result I made a lot of friends. We would go exploring all over the sea and sometimes even go into dark forbidden places. Our elders tried to explain the dangers that lay in the outside world but we hardly paid any heed. One such day, we strayed too close to the pretty beach near our home. As we played near the surface of the water a large colorful and rather fast Kingfisher caught me in its beak and flew away. I struggled for a bit, but without the water it was useless and soon I died from lack of oxygen.
While I became yet another yummy meal, the life cycle continued, and soon I was reborn as a baby bird. When I popped my eyes open, I was trapped in this big white egg that was all around me. I had to butt into it with my head a few times to get it to crack, and then try and spread my tiny wings to push the rest of the shell away from my body. I was an ugly looking tiny bird, but gradually I grew into a beautiful Kingfisher myself. I lived close to a large city atop a tall tree, but right next to the sea. I spent my days flying around and enjoying the view from the clouds. I lived and loved, had a beautiful family, had a good life, and then grew old and died. Ants got to my carcass, and made a feast out of me.
And then the ants got eaten by a worm, which eventually got eaten by a butterfly. And that's how I ended up inside a butterfly. And yes, you get the picture...the butterfly laid eggs, one of which was me and that is how my next life started. I grew into a caterpillar at first, until after a long period of struggle, my beautiful, strong wings grew out, and I was able to spread them wide and fly around again. This time I stayed closer to the ground, I fluttered from bush to bush and got to kiss a lot of pretty flowers. I lived and eventually died in a rose bush, and of course was buried there too.
The rose bush absorbed my essence through the soil, and before you knew it, I was born again as a beautiful red rose. I was a sight to behold and the envy of all other flowers, and the gardener in that park took very good care of me. He watered the bush and pruned the leaves and ensured that no one got to pluck me from the bush until I had the chance to blossom into my full potential.
And once that happened, I got plucked by this amazing man who gave me to his wife whom he loved very much. She cherished me and took care of me for the few days that I was still alive after being plucked out. She was a beautiful woman, a loving wife, and a doting mother. And she was expecting a second child. As I left that life of the rose, she gave birth to a daughter - yep, that's me! I was born into my seventh (last and final) form as Sneha, a Leo, a lover of water and heights and all the pretty things in life, a believer that we only have one life, and most importantly, a gigantic pain in everyone's life. And in this way, my seven lives/my seven incarnations have come a full circle. :)
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