Our life is similar to a train journey. The train is continuously on the move, travelling from various places to other places — without any specific starting station or a destination. We passengers board the train at some station and join existing passengers travelling from earlier stations. We travel with them for some distance and some passenger gets down at some station and then some new passengers join us at that station or another station.

Similarly, we also get down at some station, while the remaining passengers continue with their journey. This boarding and disembarking goes on and on with various passengers.

The situation is the same in our lives — taking birth in a family and joining existing family members is like boarding a train at some station and joining other passengers who are already in the midst of their journey. The existing passengers travelling in the train of different natures, ages, backgrounds and attitudes are comparable to the existing family members with different natures, ages and attitudes. Some passengers are good, friendly and affectionate, others are unbothered and some are rude and arrogant. As we have no other option than to travel and adjust with existing passengers having boarded the train, similarly we should adjust with family members in real life too.

During a train journey one of our co-passengers may disembark at some station which signifies one of the family members has died. The co-passenger who had disembarked will catch another train going towards another direction which means that the family member who has died will take rebirth to join another family to continue his life journey in a new direction.

In the train journey, we do not develop any attachment or enmity towards passengers even though we like some and do not like others, because we know that the journey with co-passengers is temporary and would come to an end sooner or later. But in real life, even though we know that the life journey is temporary, as birth and death are inevitable, yet we develop undue attachment with those who are good and friendly with us and develop aversion, enmity, hatred towards others who are not good to us. This attachment and aversion is the major cause for all the pains and pleasures in our life.

If there could be constant awareness about this fact of a life journey comparable to a train journey, and joining and separation as the basic ingredients of this journey, we would not develop undue attachment or aversion with anybody irrespective of their being good or otherwise. Our life journey would have no peaks of high and low emotions. The sense of duties and responsibilities will prevail over expectations and disappointments. Patience, tolerance and forgiveness will become an indispensable part of one’s attitude. Negative reactions would cease as the subconscious impression of “everything being temporary” will be at the centrestage of our behaviour and attitude.

Our focus will shift towards our own “self”, the “divine self”. This shift will eventually make our life journey a memorable and enjoyable one.

Bon Voyage!