I think throughout most of people’s lives people don’t really think of its inevitable conclusion or at least only very rarely. However, I am now in my early 70s and that inevitable conclusion is, well, sort of closing in on me a little bit.

I believe a lot of people derive some comfort from the idea of going to heaven; rather fewer from the idea of going to hell.

In recent years, “new age” spiritual beliefs have postulated the concept of reincarnation, and I must admit it is a very attractive idea. I was therefore slightly disappointed to read, in a book about obscure Tibetan Buddhist beliefs, that the true cognoscenti of that branch of Buddhism pooh-pooh the whole concept of reincarnation as being a visualisation of the reincarnation of the ego; something that in spiritual terms you most certainly do not want to retain.

I always found it rather perverse that, whilst we in the West tend generally to hanker after the preservation of our existence in some form, after death, in Hinduism, the goal is to be forever freed from repeated reincarnations. To that end, Hindus desirous of short circuiting their rebirth cycle often make their way to the city Varanasi on the sacred river Ganges, Just prior to their impending demise in order that they may die within that holy city and that their body may be burned on the banks of the sacred river Ganges which, in theory, frees them from the cycle of birth and rebirth!

This makes Varanasi a city with a very errrrr - interesting atmosphere. Aside from its alleged abbreviation of the cycle of rebirth, Varanasi is also the home of Shiva, who happens to be the god of dope (cannabis, pot or what you will) and so although alcohol is forbidden within the city limits, grass is freely available. Many residents of the city and much of its workforce are followers of Shiva and take their obligation to emulate Shiva very seriously - Varanasi is a city in which a substantial proportion of the population considers it a religious obligation to get as stoned as they can 24/7. This makes it an other worldly experience, if that is the right description!