Karma decides our longevity. Other factors only support the karmic design.

We live not a moment longer, not a breath more than our last pending karma for a given life. So, while you may think that life is about all the other things – the family, career, fortune, duties, responsibilities, achievements, goals etc. etc. – truth is we’re here to settle our karmic debts. And everything else, that we consider as more important simply facilitates this settlement. Yes, we learn our lessons in the process and evolve to new state of maturity but our pending karmas decide how long we’re here in our given form.

And then, as we see there are some souls who leave earlier than what’s considered a normal age. Some souls die early. They may leave due to any visible reason, but it is because their pending karmas fixed for the given have been cleared, they are meant to progress and continue their journey through another form. This also explains the popular belief that ‘good souls leave early’. And that’s because good souls have the capacity to settle more karma in less time.