Easter

Happy Easter to everyone.

I received a church pamphlet a couple of days ago which asked a very good question - what is the significance of easter beyond the easter eggs and a good long weekend?

Of course, the pamphlet was to goad people to attend church on Easter, but that aside, it put me to thinking. Two thoughts. First - Most of our festivals today have lost their religious and spiritual significance and are reduced to being shopping extravaganza breaks from work; and as far as I know, this is common across religions and countries. This post is not about this. I'll do another post in a couple of days on this topic. Thought No. 2 came from a statement made in the church pamphlet - The true message of Easter is that by being reborn, Christ has shown us the way to conquer death.

What a beautiful thought! I won't go into the details of Christ or Christianity here, because I am neither a Christian nor a scholar on Christianity, my whole take on Christ being a tremendous amount of respect for him. But what a beautiful thought! Easter is the celebration of the spiritual life being longer, stronger and everlasting, if you have lived that way. Don't even go on the religious path. By spiritual, I mean, what you stand for; the essence of your life is your spirit.

If the essence of your life is great, the death of the physical body is just another event. If the essence of your life is telling people to love their brothers and asking them to be good to each other, your spirit will continue to live. If the essence of your life is to guide people on a way of peace and salvation, you will live on. Who in the world today is more alive than Christ?

It does not matter which religion you belong to or whether you are an agnostic or an atheist. This is not about traditional religion, this is about how to live. Christ or Buddha or Krishna or Mohammad or Guru Nanak are as alive today as they were when they were physically here; perhaps more so as they now live in billions of people around the world.

So Easter, my friends, is a celebration for everyone as the celebration of the conquest of life over death. So have a nice time, enjoy, and remember that the way to conquer death is not by living forever but by living "good".