You Fear Death Because You’ve Never Lived
Questioner: Last year, both my parents got cancer. So, they were very worried and financially disturbed. So, with this situation, they are in a depressed state and they are always talking with me in that way. I'm not able to say to them what I have to say. So, in this situation, how to handle them?
Acharya Prashant: What's the situation right now?
Questioner: Both of them have finished their treatments and they are with me now. And they are thinking that they will get it again and again.
Acharya Prashant: Is it in remission now?
Questioner: The treatment happened and 3 months of screening is over. But everyday, they are thinking that they will get that again and they have to go through that treatment again and again. And they are forcing me indirectly into sad situations.
Acharya Prashant: Yeah. But what are the doctors saying? What are the chances of relapse?
Questioner: The doctors are saying that they may relapse. One is breast cancer and the other is colon cancer. And they are also fearing about me: “You will also get the same thing because we both have the same thing and you will also get that because of us.”
Acharya Prashant: When the discussion is so much around health, death and mortality, why not face it head on? Right now, they have been treated. Right now, there are no cancer cells in the body. But there is a chance that it may come back. But as of now, there is nothing. In the future, there might be something, there is some chance. But for everybody, in the future, death is anyway certain, no? What matters is that today you are alive. Also, there is a probability that you may continue to live for a fairly large number of years. It is still possible, right?
So then, why not make the most of the time that is available? Because even to a healthy person, the end is inevitable. And when you are someone who has a greater probability of cancer returning, then you have to be even more sensitive about your time – which means we cannot spend time in grieving, in lamenting, in remaining depressed, in spreading sadness. Right?
That should be the question now. It's a matter of grace that right now we are free of the disease. Let's make the best use of this time because we do not know.
Questioner: Even though I am saying the same things, that death is inevitable and we have to face that, they are making me go into their situations.
Acharya Prashant: So, that’s the question that has to be asked: suppose we have three more years, how do we want to spend these three years? The common man will say, “I have 20 more years or 30 more years at the age of your parents." They must be in their 60s?
Questioner: 50, 55.
Acharya Prashant: Late 50s. So, the common man at this age will say, “I have 20 more years.” Maybe your parents will say, “We have two more years or five more years.” So, we know the time is limited. And if time is limited, that's even a bigger reason to spend it very carefully. Which means to the extent the body and the doctors allow it, you must travel, you must explore life as much as possible because you know what's knocking on the door.
Wasting time is bad even for an otherwise healthy young man. But when you know that your clock is ticking, then wasting time makes no sense at all. Or does it?
Questioner: Yes.
Acharya Prashant: So, that's what you must say. Let every day be a celebration of some kind or the other. Let's sit together, eat together, travel together, do whatever is possible under the conditions and make the best use of whatever time is there. And who knows? Medical science has advanced to an extent that who knows, maybe still, there are decades to live. Who knows?
Questioner: Yes.
Acharya Prashant: But the worst case is let's say, we have 2 years or 5 years, right?
Live with gusto. When something is available only in a small quantity, you spend it with even more caution, don't you?
Questioner: Yes.
Acharya Prashant: So, be free and make the maximum use of the time available.
