Our very dear Leela Bhenji passes away!

                                        

                                                            Our Revered Leela Bhenji.

I am emotionally touched by the demise of our revered Leela Bhenji who left us after bravely fighting the dreaded disease Cancer.  She has been very close to us for the last twenty years or so. It is almost a month when she left for her journey to Heaven.

She was impeccable and straight forward person. Leela Bhenji was not only honest looking but also a very honest in her actions. Ever smiling, she would be often found sitting among the Sangat in the Gurdwara patiently and listening deeply to the Gurbani Kirtan. She lived Gurbani.  She has now joined the almighty along with her Spiritual Silence.

It's often said that the death for an ordinary person, one in material consciousness, is very painful experience. Sri Guru Granth Sahib says that this most painful experience can be turned into the "Perfect, Supreme Bliss" experience, just like other Joyful moments of life! She was a living example.

After her intense suffering for two months, she left us not only blissfully but also inculcated the art of blissful ness in her own family. It is evident from the write up posted by her dear son Kuldip who appropriately punctuated it with Gurbani quotes. She clearly left a trail which Kuldip has adopted to follow through.

Besides being a staunch Sikh, She was also very practical and jovial to the core.  She was a 'Karva Chouth' mate to my wife Harvinder who will exchange the traditionally fast story over the phone for many years. The fast story has to be mandatory retold by a leading woman while all others young and old married women dressed in their bridal dresses sit together in a circullar chorus and exchange their sweet filled plates among them.  Leela Bhaenji had evolved this novel method keeping in view the distances in the western world. On an inquisitive note once I happened to ask her, being a stout Sikh why she was observing Karva Chouth, a fast observed by Hindu married women for the longevity and safety of their husbands and would pray to leave this world before their husbands do so. To this, she promptly replied that above all religious simmerings, she loved her husband more than anything. So she kept the promise and left for heavenly abode under the alert and soaked eyes of her husband Ranjit Veer Ji.  

                                     Dr Ranjit Singh Oberoi and Leela Kaur Oberoi

I, on behalf of my family, present my heartfelt condolences to Ranjit Veer Ji, Kuldip, Jasbir Gujral Bhenji and  all other family members and pray to Waheguru Ji for her soul to  rest in intuitive peace and  bless them sufficient strength to bear this separation and fill the family with a spiritual peace

As in the Sikh thought, not only the birth, but the death is also celebrated. Instead of mourning, a true Sikh rejoices death, thus smiles at it. As the Gurbani says, the thought of death should fill one's mind with the "Perfect, Supreme Bliss" (Anand). How the death (Maut) can fill a person's mind with Bliss?

ਕਬੀਰ ਜਿਸੁ ਮਰਨੇ ਤੇ ਜਗੁ ਡਰੈ ਮੇਰੇ ਮਨਿ ਆਨੰਦੁ ॥ ਮਰਨੇ ਹੀ ਤੇ ਪਾਈਐ ਪੂਰਨੁ ਪਰਮਾਨੰਦੁ ॥੨੨॥: 

 Kabeer, the world is afraid of death - that death fills my mind with Bliss. It is only by death that Perfect, Supreme Bliss is obtained ||22|| (sggs 1365).

May Waheguru allow the soul of Leela Bhenji to Rest In Peace.