Her hands were beautifully manicured. She dressed in colourful florals, laughed easily and smiled radiantly. She made us all laugh a lot. She wore lovely make-up and even had false eyelashes on! She seemed to be filled with joy and radiance. She lost her adorable 31 years old son to suicide about 5 years ago. She is determined to remember him for his wonderful-ness and for how beautifully he lived. Not by his last act.

“Death brings you in touch with the reality of life. Death creates a vacuum, a void. Void is the fertile ground for the spirit to manifest. All talents, invention, creativity spring forth from the void, and creation has a tendency to return to the void.

Bharat (a character in the epic, Mahabharat) says, “All the problems come when you avoid the void.”

All the places of worship in all religions are connected with places of burial/cremation, as the awareness of death alone can bring dispassion and make you well grounded in knowledge. According to Indian mythology, the abode of Lord Shiva is on Mount Kailasa as well as in Smashana (the cremation ground).

Kailasa means “where there is only celebration”, and Smashana is where there is only void. Thus, Divinity dwells in the void as well as in celebration. And in you there is void, in you there is celebration.”

-Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.