Art of Dying Art of Dying_Volume III_joomag | Page 25

ANITA ISOLA we must seek out their good qualities. Harbouring bitterness for certain people comes from concentrating on their negatives. If you focus on the good qualities, you'll have time to get to know them better and maybe even start loving them. 4. BE WILLING TO SEEK HELP FROM OTHERS To know and do everything yourself might feel empowering but it limits one from absorbing what others have learned. Shukla believes we must help others, and more importantly, have the courage to seek help when we’re in need.  Every person in the world knows more than us in some respect. And if we’re open, their knowledge can help us. He recounts the incident in the 80’s of an old woman being admitted on a rainy day. People left her without filling out the inquiry form. A few hours later, the police came to trace her relatives who, they said, were runaway Naxalites. Shukla pretended to know nothing and the police left. When the woman’s relatives returned the next morning, Shukla asked the leader uninhibitedly, “When you can kill so many people, why didn’t you simply shoot your Nani and cremate her In the vastness of the infinite amount of knowledge available to us it is easy to get lost and confused. yourself? Why did you make me lie and feel ashamed?” Her grandson fell to his knees and pled for forgiveness, saying no one amongst them was capable of helping his religious grandmother attain salvation, which was why they brought her to Mukti Bhawan. VOLUME III | 25