What do we take with us?

नामुत्र हि सहायार्थं पिता माता च तिष्ठतः । 
न पुत्रदारं न ज्ञातिर्धर्मस्तिष्ठति केवलः ॥ २३९ ॥

nāmutra hi sahāyārthaṃ pitā mātā ca tiṣṭhataḥ | 
na putradāraṃ na jñātirdharmastiṣṭhati kevalaḥ || 239 ||

Manusmriti 4.239

The Manu Smriti tells us: namutra hi sahayartham pita mata ca tisthatah. na putradarah na jnatih dharmas tisthati kevalah. “When you depart from this world, your father will not come with you, your mother will not come with you, your brother will not come, your sister will not come, your husband will not come, your wife will not come, your children will not come, your money will not come, and even your body will not come with you.”

Then what will come with you? The verse mentions that your spiritual merit alone accompanies you.

Everything else remains here – life goes on, the assets that we accumulate pass on to the next generation, or wither away. How many of us can recall (or even know) the names of our great-great grandparents, and their parents? Even our names will be forgotten within 2-3 generations, and that is the truth.

How we live everyday counts – not towards any credit that we can cash out on when we depart, but towards our growth now.

Today is what matters, everything else has already gone, or is yet to come. Let us strive to live a better today, so that when we go, we can be content that we led a beautiful and happy life, and were good and considerate of our fellow beings – humans, animals, plants and nature as a whole. Let us leave the world a better place than it was when we first came in – not worse.

That’s all that matters. Everything else, stays back:)