Neena Verma

“Appreciate, Let purpose inspire action, Learn with humility, Go beyond .. all in Here & Now.”

“There are words like ‘orphan’, ‘widow’ and ‘widower’ in all languages. But there is no word in any language to describe a parent who loses a child. How does one describe the pain of ‘ultimate bereavement’! (Page 50)”

“The crumbling under the ‘cold corpse’The deadness of ‘mortal separation’The moaning wails of ‘mourning’The push to ‘perform rituals’The spectacle of ‘sorrow’The goriness of ‘grief’AndThe ‘mercilessness’ of the ‘merciful’Who knows … ‘what’ and ‘why’ Who would ever want to know(Page 34)”

“One is in 'Waiting'Even after it's overGrief comes to stayNever up for closure...There is no escape everOne is always yearningGrief envelops thoseLeft behind in 'waiting'...‘Staying stuck’ in painHiding deep in the heart'Let go' ! Yes, but howTo make a new start...One has to live in theDark blind ‘Black-hole’Until Light would graceRekindling a 'Whole'(Page 49)”

“Lament invoked love.Woe invoked wonder.Grief invoked grace.Cry invoked celebration.(Page 80)”

“GriefYou plunge one in many emotionsBetrayal, Despair, Depression, Fear, AngerGriefYou are more difficult to face than DeathGriefPlease let my faith stay stronger than youGriefI so wish you eventually lose out to love(Page 58)”

“Twilight ...Say, who you are !!The dusk before the nightOr the dawn before the light(Page 73)”

“Bereavement, despair, ache, yearning happen to all. We all bear the pain of grief. We all take them in our own ways. And we are all blessed with the grace to transcend. (Page xii)”

“We are generally not programmed to imagine death, to handle death, to absorb grief, at least not in the immediacy of things, definitely not when the ‘thing’ has happened to another person.”

“Twilight, the only time of the day when the light and dark meet and become one. The bright powerful light of the day, calmly surrenders before the engulfing duskiness of the night. And the dense whelming darkness of the night yields before the surreal dawning saffron of the morning. The only two moments of the day that absolve the difference between ‘dark and light’. (Page 71)”

“Twilight …Not just a metaphorThe metaphor of the ‘spirit’The confluence of life and deathThe celestial dance of existential and essential(Page 75)”

“Learn to accept the inevitability of difference between the self-view & others' image of us. Be willing to take this as an opportunity to grow consciousness. Have clarity to know when others' view is projection of their own shadow. Summon courage to endure growth pains. Life is simple.”

“The Source …Who are YouWhere lay your pathWhy be on your journey...The Source …Your marvel amazesYour mystique invokesYour magnificence entrances(Page 88)”

“Letting myself fall wasn't easy. It wasn't hard either. It was a calling that I had to honour. I did honour. I took a plunge into my dark abyss. I faced my grief, my fear, my sadness, my loneliness, my anguish, myself. (Page 78)”

“Nature does not abandon us. Rather, it helps us in accepting our loss, grief and pain. It stays with us, even cries with us. It gifts us openings, may be more than once, to heal, transcend and re-emerge. (Page xii)”