A person named John dies and goes to the gate of heaven, he sees people entering inside in a line, he chooses the smallest line and stands behind it. Soon he reaches the gate, gatekeeper asks him of his age. Hoping to earn some sympathy, he replies, “I died at the age of 34”. Gatekeeper gives him a stare and says “go to that line, this one is for elders. That is for people below forty.” John looks at the line, says “that is longer than eternity, why is it so?” The gatekeeper replies, “we have not created so many slots for younger people, but they keep on dying. What’s our fault in it? Go stand in that line,”
John has no other choice but to change the line. It took years and years for him to reach the gate, but as he reaches the gate, it gets closed. Befuddled John asks the gatekeeper, why is he closing the gates. The gatekeeper replies, the heaven got crowded with all the young guys, they have not done much to attain Nirvana, so he has to wait until someone attains Nirvana or gets rebirth. Disheartened John waits for his chance and few more years passed by. The gatekeeper opens the door and say to him, that there is a vacancy for one under forty.
John sees it as a light of hope, he tries to walk inside heaven. Suddenly another gatekeeper stops him and says “sorry man, this vacancy is reserved for a person dying of the accident, we just need to confirm whether you died of accident or not.” John replies “No, I died of cardiac arrest.” A person from behind shouts, “I died in a car crash”, gatekeeper asks him to come and get his pass to heaven. Poor John is again left at the gate to wait.
John gets impatient and shouts at the gatekeeper “What kind of poor management is it, I want to lodge a complaint.” The gatekeeper says, “sire, I have an idea, you don’t lodge a complaint and I can get you a back-door entry to hell.” “I won’t go to hell; I have earned heaven” John replies. Gatekeeper shows him another line and says “that is the line to lodge a complaint, please feel free to go over there.” Faint heart of John could not bear the look of that longer complaint line, John would again have died with cardiac arrest if he is not dead already. He apologized to the gatekeeper and says “I will wait for as long as it takes, I will not talk of complaining again.” All the people and the gatekeepers vanish and the gates of heaven open for him. He walks inside to the abode of God.
John asks God, what has just happened to him, why he had to wait for years if no one is around. God replies “My kid, here we teach humans what they have not learned in their life. For your case it was patience. Lucky for you even after committing suicide, you get to enter heaven.” “Suicide! I have not died of suicide.” John replies.
(to be continued in the next story- have some patience and stay connected)
Life Lessons 