amar

I am reading a book "My name is red" currently, having exhausted all serials from OTT platforms. 

The narrator - the current narrator (yes, the book has too many narrators. Each chapter has different narrator - starting with a corpse as a narrator, then having all kinds of characters telling their stories - a young man, his love interest, her father,  even a dog. There is a narration by a coin too.) says "the ills we are slave to in this city- the scandals, the immorality, the poverty are due to our moving away from the almighty God and his religion". 

Again, I have not used the name of the God he quoted and the religion in order not to offend my fellow countrymen. 

But I misread immorality as immortality. And as a result, was very confused. Is the narrator saying that   moving away from God and religion makes one immortal? Interesting!

Then I reread the sentence, removing the extra letter  t. Oh, immorality! That is understandable. As humankind moves away from God and religion, it becomes more and more corrupt and highly immoral. 

And the corollary is as the the society becomes more and more religious, it becomes more and more moral and just and kind and good. 

 As is evident in the current society. 

Sorry, I can't help myself. I HAVE to quip about the 'pseudo' religiosity and moral bankruptcy we see everywhere today. 

Coming back to difference of one letter - and the words are so different, Ajagajantara as we say in Kannada - aja - goat, gaja - elephant.  But why the strive for immortality? Do other religions believe in immortality? Does one becomes immortal if one gets 'moksha' - the relief from cycle of birth and death? And if we keep dying and being born again and again, are we not in some kind of way immortal? 

But again, why would any one want to live forever and ever? Not me, certainly. I am trying push each day with all my might and each night with all my might. Waiting for yama - praying to him silently -" he bhagawan, utha le re!".

One letter makes all the difference - instead of reading the title of this post as अ-मर, if you read it as 'आ-मर" the meaning is so different (आ-come मर-die).