Don’t we hear all the time that the lessons of life are continuous, and that even in death, there’s still a lot of learning going on? Well, in my short time here, I have learnt quite a few things and because I’m just too generous for my own good, I’m sharing some of the things I have learnt with you. Enjoy!

1. I have learnt that in a world where there’s too little to hold on to, people should be left alone to trip on ideas like going to heaven. It’s often the only consolation for an otherwise cheerless life.

2. I have learnt that heaven cannot be for only those who congregate. Since God is love, truth, justice, peace and beauty, wherever we find love, truth, justice, peace and beauty, God is also present there, wherever ‘there’ might be.

3. I have learnt that only those who really lack substance make a life out of judging people. I have since come to believe that:

‘There is so much good in the worst of us.

And so much bad in the rest of us,

That it hardly becomes any of us,

To talk about the rest of us.‘ Edward Wallis Hoch

4. I have since learnt that as far as the thousands of myopic religious people I constantly encounter are concerned, the content of my character will never be as important as the God I profess. Yet, if I dare profess one that does not look like theirs, I am doomed all the same. At such moments I find solace in Ghandi’s words: “…after long study and experience I have come to the conclusion that:  (1) all religions are true, (2) all religions have some error in them, (3) all religions are almost as dear to me as my own Hinduism. My veneration of other faith is the same as my own faith. Consequently the thought of conversion is impossible…Our prayer for others ought never to be: ‘God! Give them the light thou hast given to me! but ‘Give them all the light and truth they need for their highest development.’

5. I have learnt that in matters of faith and religion, prescriptive morality should be totally avoided. There can be no divine right vested in anyone to pronounce the final word or the ultimate truth. “The unique aim of human existence lies neither in Heaven or Hell, but only in carrying to its highest perfection the humanity which we bear within us.” Desiderius Erasmus

6. I have learnt that the next coming is that of the master within. That we actually should be searching for Him within our souls rather than waiting for Him.

7. I have also learnt that the way to become human is to recognize the characteristic features of God in all the wonderful variations of the face of man.

8. I have learnt that happiness can be overrated, and the power of sadness is often underestimated.

9. I have come to understand that my faith in Karma, Reincarnation and sameness of humanity gives me strength to navigate through trying times and find peace of mind.

10. I have learnt that loving truly, even the most undeserving, is never in vain. It may for sometime seem like casting pearls before swine, but in time, compensation will come.

11. I have learnt that being a father goes beyond the possession of a penis and the ability to impregnate a woman. Similarly, I have also learnt that a mother is not necessarily the woman who can carry a foetus for 9 months and wails at delivery.

12. I have learnt that while hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, the heavens also hath no pleasure like a woman loved. Nothing compares to a woman who loves truly and is truly loved back.

13. I have since learnt that if it is to be, it is up to me. I am the captain of my ship…I am the master of my fate.