LIFE OF PI - A Tribute to Irfan Khan

"I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye." - Irfan Khan from the movie "Life of Pi"

Probably one of the best movie of Irfan Khan is the "Life of Pi" (that is the only movie I have seen of his). The movie shows how Irfan Khan as Pi, was saved once during the drowning of the ship in which his family was relocating to Europe and the second time, while being stranded alone in the Pacific Ocean along with a ferocious Bengal tiger called Richard Parker in a small sail boat. But in the movie of life, he sadly couldn't be saved from the cancer that was ravaging him. We may get saved many times from many life-threatening circumstances but there will be one situation when we will not survive. Whoever one is, however famous one may be, however educated and successful one may be, everyone has to meet this inevitable end.

Lord Krishna states this truth in the Bhagvat-gita 2.27 -

"jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur

dhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca"

"For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain."

Therefore intelligence is to prepare for this inevitable moment. How to prepare for this final exam and pass it with flying colours is explained by Lord Krishna in Bhagvad-gita 8.5 and by Shukadev Goswami in Srimad-bhagvatam 2.1.6

"anta-kāle ca mām eva

smaran muktvā kalevaram

yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ

yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ"

"And whoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. of this there is no doubt." - Bhagvat-gita 8.5

"etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyāṁ

sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhayā

janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām

ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ"

"The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life." - Srimad-bhagvatam 2.1.6

Our prayers to Irfan Khan who I heard was a vegetarian from his very childhood even though born in a Muslim family. His father used to say that he is a Brahman boy born in a Muslim family. Such sincere Muslims bring great glory to their religion. We pray that wherever he may be, he will continue on his search for the Absolute truth, something that was so well depicted in the movie, "Life of Pi" and that was so dear to his heart in his real life too. This life is after all, a small scene in the big movie of the imperishable soul to find answers to the mystery of life and death.

- Achyut Gopal Das

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