Feelings At Death Poem by Ratnakar Rout

Just before breathing the last breath
What one can ponder over?
He may recollect the ugliest encounter
He had with his foes
And the way he ditched her beloved,
Exploited the innocence of his wife
And the exciting moments he had spent with his friends
Behaved improperly with his colleagues
Indulged in infidelity with a woman next door
Plundered the innocent people abusing power and position
Ignored deliberately his kith & kin
Neglected parents in their old age
Recounting his adolescent days
Punishments given to him for his mischief by them
Alternatively, he may recollect the noble deeds done by him
The services he had rendered for the wellbeing
Of the public and the society at large
With an altruistic and philanthropic commitment
Or else he may go on repenting for his evil deeds
Till the last breath and apologize in silence to all
Who has suffered severely in life for his wrong doings?
He may also beg pardon to God
And seek forgiveness from HIM to rest his soul in peace
At abode after his departure from this mundane world.
He may wish to have a peaceful return journey
And loving embrace of death so as to meet a painless end
When his formless soul will get liberated
From the worldly body and depart the visible form
The ‘panchabhuta’ here will get mingled
And subsequently may return to the same form
He may visualize the after effect of his sad demise
And on this score the reaction of the people around him there after.
He may aspire to listen the chanting of ‘Sloka’
Of ‘Srimad Bhagabat Gita’ or recall his memory
To recite the ‘Slokas’ silently which his parents had taught
Him in his childhood as a part of family tradition which passes
On from one generation to the next
Called as ‘SAMSKAR’ till he rests eternally on the lap of death
And that would find his soul liberated to attain ‘nirvan’
“asato ma sat gamaya
tamashjo ma jotirgamaya
mrityurmam amrutam gamaya
om shanti, shanti, shanti”.