We are the Co-travelers on this Planet

Who are we? We, the people of the world are the members of the world civilization. We may call ourselves Americans, British, Russians, Indians and so on based on the geographical locations where we are born or reside. We may speak different languages, may have different skin colors, may have different physical attributes but there is a unifying thread among us that is, we all are human beings. We can compare our existence with millions and millions of the trees sprouted on this planet Earth but the origin of all the trees is a basic entity which is called seed. All the trees have grown out of the seeds. Similarly, we have also born out of the seed. The trees lives for hundreds and thousands of years, so we also live on this period for our allotted life spans. And when we live together while alive; we all are co-travelers on this planet. We took birth, we grow, we get old and we die at certain age. With our death, our journey comes to an end. While we travel the journey of life, we meet many people, we meet old travelers who are ahead of us in the journey, we meet new travelers who join the race after us and lose some travelers who complete their journey and depart from us. We fall in love with some of the travelers and we may hate are dislike some travelers while moving in the journey. We are afraid of losing our loved ones but we may be unconcerned about the coming and going of the rest of our fellow travelers.

PIC: naukrinama.com

Meeting and departing is a constant natural phenomenon in the journey. The meaning of journey is to move ahead without stopping or without stagnating. We have to move continuously in order to complete the journey with joy and happiness. We do not have to stop and mourn in the journey if we lose some of our dearest co-travelers. Their part of the journey is over and they have just withdrawn from the race. But our journey has to continue and we have to move on in the life to finish our race successfully. If we stop in the journey and mourn constantly about our departed co-travelers, we will stagnate and our journey would lose the meaning and purpose. 

Why we come in this world, meet certain people and walk in the journey with them. As per Indian spirituality, nothing happens without a cause. We, the fellow travelers have come together in the journey as a consequence of past transactions with each other. We are not the co-travelers in this journey of life but have undertaken together many journeys in the past, in our previous lives. In this life, we have again joined the journey together based on our past transaction to settle them in this life. At the same time, we are also creating our fresh transactions with each other depending upon the choices we opt and act. We would have to settle these new transactions in this life itself or in the futures lives. There is no escape from the settlement. As long as the settlements of the transactions are pending, we will continue to comeback on this planet to settle them. And so the cycle of birth and death continues till we do not stop accumulating new transactions (also called Karma).

The journey of life is not easy one. The reality of life is that we meet many challenges, sometimes we succeed, and sometimes we fail. Sometimes we move and sometimes we stagnate. The body mind complex undergoes pain and pleasure, happiness and unhappiness. But the soul which takes the form of a human being remains just an observer of everything. The soul neither takes birth nor dies. It just changes the garments. The verse 20 and 22 of chapter 2 of the Shrimadbhagwad Gita very clearly exemplify this philosophy through the lips of Lord Krishna himself who says;

PIC: krishna.com

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि- न्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।

अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो- न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥ - 2/20 II

na jayate mriyate va kadacin nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah  

ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire

Meaning: For the soul there is neither birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय, नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि |

तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा, न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही || 2/22||

vāsānsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya, navāni gṛihṇāti naro ’parāṇi

tathā śharīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇānya nyāni sanyāti navāni dehī

Meaning: As a person sheds worn-out garments and wears new ones, likewise, at the time of death, the soul casts off its worn-out body and enters a new one.

What is the escape route from the cycle of birth and death? The only escape is not to keep any outstanding transactions in this life. Do your prescribed duty to uphold the Dharma (righteous duty). See the self within all your co-travelers in the journey and don’t even think or perform an action against them which you would not like that they perform the same with you. The formula is very simple but we forget the simple formula and get influenced by personal likes and dislikes, dishonesty, jealousy, anger, greed and lust. Consequently, we have to suffer, the society has to suffer and all our co-travelers have to suffer. Rise above these evils and enjoy the pleasant and beautiful journey of life with our wonderful co-travelers. That is life and that is the beautiful journey. Live and let live is the philosophy. We are the Co-travelers on this Planet and be useful and helpful to everybody.
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http://motivateyourselves.com/