Such exclamations are commonly heard in the house of death. But in spite of a great display of grief and pain, my and mine remain uppermost rather than consideration for the welfare of the one who has actually passed away.
The sword of death has been swinging freely since the beginning of man's history. Every day I see hundreds and thousands of my brothers dying without feeling anything for it, and similarly, Jamshed's death is no exception to this. All admit that death is unavoidable — the necessary end for all — and though the fact is universally acknowledged and experienced, at the time of its happening, people immediately start crying. It is either madness or unsoundness of the mind! Nothing lasts, everything is indefinite in this world except the jivatma [individual soul], which is subject to births and deaths. Even Perfect Masters and Avatars leave this world when their duty is over, so what to say of ordinary souls? This come-and-go game, the alternating experiences of life and gathering and spending of sanskaras, is really quite difficult to understand.
Most people generally do not believe in the principle of karma and are firmly convinced that there is no other body. The very thought of reincarnation, of another body makes them shudder and shake. They say that once one is dead, he is dead and there is no rebirth in the same way that dry wood does not turn green again.
But really speaking, poor Jamshed is not dead. It will be a pleasant surprise if Jamshed is really dead; but he is not. If he were really dead, all should rejoice over it, since it would mean Real Life for him. Unless we really die [the ego is annihilated], we cannot realize divinity. So all this expressing of sorrow and regret is bunkum.
Although you find me moving about amongst you, playing with you, and in fact, doing all that a supposedly living man does, I am really dead! I am truly and really dead, though I seem alive and active to you. If you die once, truly, there will be no more life and death for you since you become one with God. Because I am dead I am alive! As Kabir says:
Everyone says, "I am dying," but none of them die.
Only he who is dead before dying has not to die again.
These are the words of Kabir.