What Matters in the Hereafter?

Lt. Col. Jaipal penned a book on his memories of hunting. Titled The Great Hunt, it was published in New York in 1982.

Jim Corbett was a well-known hunter. He was particularly fond of shooting tigers. He had a seemingly beautiful explanation for this murderous activity: “I kill man-eating tigers in order to save villagers from them.”

Most hunters have a similar seemingly attractive explanation or excuse for their violent pastime. But Col. Jaipal did not have to search for a pseudo-excuse like this. He very openly admitted what others do not.

Col. Jaipal was very fond of killing crocodiles. He writes that he loved tracking these animals. The crocodiles would slip into the water, and then, when he would fire bullets at them, they would lash their tails about and open their mouths wide. “All this,” Col. Jaipal writes, “gave me quite a lot of thrill.”

It is perhaps intrinsic to the human mind to want to go after others, to make plans to trouble them. And when people succeed in these plans, they revel in what they think is their ‘success’. But little do they realize that in the Hereafter they shall be held accountable for their deeds. In contrast, someone who controls this urge and lives in the world in such a way that he becomes a source of mercy for others will find that the doors of Heaven will be opened to him in the Hereafter.