How Our Fear of Death Reflects Our Attachment to Life’s Pleasures
Questioner: Greetings, Master. So when the body dies, when I'm thinking of death, one thing I know is that my consumption of the world will end. That much I know. But I'm afraid of that because I am living and thriving on consuming the world, gaining pleasure from the world—I'm living on that. So my food for existence will stop.
Acharya Prashant: Maybe, maybe that's what we are afraid of—consumption coming to an end without the end having been achieved. It's like this—go back to that example. When some ticketless fellow sneaks into the first-class reserved coach, think of this: why has he chosen to get into that particular coach and not into a general dabba?
Questioner: To consume the comforts of AC and other luxuries.
Acharya Prashant: To consume the comforts. But he has still not managed to secure a seat. Instead, he's hanging in the toilet.
Now, will he want the journey to end? Think—why did he enter the coach in the first place? He wanted to consume the pleasure of the broad berth, the air conditioning, the service, and all else. Instead, his entire journey—his entire life, 80 years—has been the duration of the journey, and he has been hanging in the latrin because he's an intruder. So he has been hiding there, in fear and everything, and enduring the smell.
Now, will he want the journey to end this way?
Questioner: No, no. He would want to have a more graceful end.
Acharya Prashant: That's what. Death scares the ego because there was something that the ego wanted from its existence that has not yet been achieved. The technical problem there is that what the ego wants from its existence can only be attained from its non-existence.
Therefore, the only way to avoid death is by dying before death.
What does the ego want to attain from its existence? What is it that the ego wants to attain by being? I am the ego. I want to continue. What is it that I want from my continuation?
Questioner: A certain fulfillment.
Acharya Prashant: I want a certain satisfaction, a certain fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness—all those things, right?
The thing is, if I continue, I can never get all those things. But all those things are available on a platter if I discontinue.
Everybody wants to be respected. We associate ego with pride, don't we? And who are the ones we ultimately respect the most, humanity has respected the most?
Questioner: The sages and the seers.
Acharya Prashant: Who could put their ego aside.
So it's a strange thing. That which the ego wants from its existence comes in ample measure, in an infinite measure, but when the ego is not there. You can get everything that you want—but only if you are no more there to want.
Questioner: I think in the last Gita session, you said something related to this—that great things are done when there is no doer.
Acharya Prashant: But the doer says, "You know, I'm not bothered with great things happening. I'm bothered with consuming the results of the great things happening. Therefore, I must exist."
But if you exist, great things will not happen. Forget about the result—even the happening will not take place.
All great things can happen, all your desires can be fulfilled—the only condition is that you must not be there to see them getting fulfilled.
It's like the enemy can be defeated, but it requires your sacrifice.
The ego soldier says, "Fine, if I sacrifice myself, maybe the enemy will be defeated, but who will remain to enjoy the victory? I must remain to enjoy the victory." Therefore, the enemy will never be defeated.
Questioner: So I come to this conclusion that ultimately, it is the choice between my continuation versus my fulfillment. If I choose my fulfillment as more important than my continuation, then it's a Buddha. Otherwise...
Acharya Prashant: But even when you put it this way, there is some solace. It's ‘my’ continuation versus ‘my’ fulfilment.
I's actually ‘my’ continuation versus ‘fulfillment’.
Questioner: Fulfillment.
Acharya Prashant: Just fulfillment. Fulfillment without the "me."
Questioner: So, I have one more question. You are talking about freshness, newness, changing things, freedom from boredom. I remember reading in the later chapters of the Ashtavakra Gita where the Atma is called Nutan—the Sanskrit word used is Nutan.
So from there, I could relate—Nutan means "new." So only the Atma is new,
Acharya Prashant: And where there is fear, there can be no newness. In fear, you just want to repeat the successes of the past.
Questioner: So, you also talked about again these things—changing small, small things even in the external world. Actually, you advised me to read this book called The Little Prince in one of the Hindi Gita sessions.
So there, I see ample of this thing happening. The Little Prince is visiting new, new planets, meeting new people, visiting Earth, trying, experimenting with the snake, experimenting with the bird. And all of this happens, and at the end of the book, The Little Prince is gone—he's dead.
So, ultimately, there is no meaning to these things changing, these new, new things. But still, The Little Prince is doing new things.
Acharya Prashant: Yes, the meaning lies in the doing itself. There is no meaning at the end of it all. Either there is meaning right now, or there is no meaning ever.
Questioner: Because when I reached the end of that book, I started feeling—I mean, why did I even read this book? Because at the end, he just died. I mean, nothing happened. I was expecting something to happen—I mean, nothing happened. He just died. So,
Acharya Prashant: At the end, Rajdeep (name of questioner), even you and I will just be The Little Prince. Nothing happens. Neither are you special, nor am I. We will be just—just gone, you know.
Dekhat hi chhup jaaega, jyon taara parbhaat.
Remember that one?
पानी केरा बुदबुदा, अस मानुस की जात देखत ही छिप जाएगा,ज्यों तारा परभात ~ Kabir Sahab
It's gone. This moment it's there, the next moment it's gone."
What meaning are we talking of? What do you think of your existence? Think of the Big Bang. How many trillion years has it been? And think of the time since the Earth experienced life. What's the worth of your existence in terms of its time span?
So there can be no meaning in the physical existence as such. If there is any meaning, it has to be in the depth of your being. Only that has meaning—all else is pretty meaningless.
You know, for how many million years did the dinosaurs rule the Earth? How many ‘million years’? And we live for, like, like, 60 years. It was for 60 million years that they were the emperors over here.
Where are they? Where is the meaning? I'm pretty sure they too had some kind of hierarchy and this and that, and divisions. And then think of the Neanderthals, huh? The proto-humans. They had pretty much developed brains. They too must have had their kingdoms and their emperors and so much more.
What does that mean today? What does your existence mean? I mean, it's—it's a blink in the expanse of time.
And even when you are not gone, even when you exist, tell me—for the 800 crore people of this planet, what do you mean? What does the greatest of all persons born mean to all the life forms on this planet? There's hardly any meaning.
Do not think in terms of residues. Do not think in terms of what remains. Think in terms of what is. Nothing will remain.
All these photos and selfies and recordings—the meaning of this session is right now. If it's right now, it's all right. If it's not right now, then it's all just about subscribers and views and all that—a good piece of entertainment.
Questioner: I remember Osho saying this thing—Astitva Akaaran hai.
Acharya Prashant: Logic does not apply to Prakriti.
Questioner: So, ultimate randomness.
So, regarding this only—if ultimately there is no meaning, many people say that even if, even if the sixth mass extinction occurs, your same logic could be put in that way—that ultimately nothing matters, then why do we care?
But you gave the answer at the last also—that the current doing is itself causing the harm to me.
Acharya Prashant: My effort matters—that's this moment, right? I might as well know that my effort won't suffice, that the mass extinction is anyway going to happen. I might know that it might not suffice. But it's the game that matters, not the goal. I'll play the game with all vivaciousness possible.
Questioner: Ending with a small note—at the end, one thing will be certain, that tea will be boiled out of me if I die in Manikarnika. That much is certain. Someone will drink out of my body. That much, yeah.
Thank you so much.
