Rebirth

[Guest guest]

 

May you not take birth again and again and again and ….. This is a greeting

for somebody who celebrated his birthday recently. It is definitely a strange

way to greet others. It can easily enter Ripley’s Believe It Or Not as the

strangest greeting. The first glance made it look like ‘Wish you a happy

birthday again and again and …..’ The negative becomes apparent later. It

has serious connotations too. Somebody was being denied the opportunity or

option for a rebirth. 

 

The matter of birth and rebirth is an interesting theme for a discussion

anytime. If we experience good things in life, a rebirth to enjoy the same way

or even in different and better ways would (and should) be welcome. In contrast,

this person (who sent this greeting) sees rebirth as something to be avoided at

all costs. The subject has been talked about extensively in Hinduism. The

strangeness of the greeting even made a few unorthodox persons refer to The

Bhagwad Gita to check whether Krishna ever greeted Arjun on his birthday in this

manner.  

 

It was felt that the whole issue can be put to rest once and for all if somebody

who has taken birth again could be convinced to share his/her experiences of a

second birth with the world. There were unconfirmed reports about the existence

of one such person in New Jersey. However, all efforts to search him/her have

proved futile so far. The search continues.

 

Seeing the interest in the topic, a survey was conducted to assess public

perception of rebirth. The respondents were asked to name the persons they

would like to be born as. They were also asked to name those they would not like

to be born as. The results about rebirth were equivocal. A large number of

respondents were ambiguous, indifferent or totally unconcerned. On the contrary

the lists of persons they would and would not like to be born as were much more

interesting.

 

The top five persons in each category, with reasons why they were named, are

produced below:

 

A.    Favourites

1.    Kate:  Because she has become a princess and future queen from a

commoner.

2.    Kishore:  Because he is a good gynaecologist and a stylish

storyteller.

3.    Sachin:  (No reasons)

4.    : Because despite having been born in a humble family in Italy and

despite the initial reluctance, she became the Indian Bahu No 1. Now  she

wields absolute power without being accountable to anybody.

5.    Sunny Leone:  Because she enjoys life (a strange choice and an even

stranger reason).

 

B.    Rejects

1.    Bharat:  Because he mostly writes trash.

2.    Manmohan:  Because he has complete responsibility without any real

power and almost everyone twists his arm.   

3.    Osama:  (No reasons)

4.    Poonam:  Because she often threatens the world to reveal all she has

but does not keep her promise.

5.    Rakhi:  Because she always acts cheap.