Early in the morning I woke up with the thought that “death is the destiny of us all”.

The thought of wanting to run away arose in my mind, moved by the feeling  that our lives  should not end up like this. Soon I realized that this was exactly what Prince Siddhartha (Lord Buddha) had  discovered, the truth that we will all die one day and that was the reason  why he sought a way out of this cycle of birth and death. 

The thought that arose was very quick and gradually faded, but when I woke up I wondered, why did this thought keep popping up in my mind?

After careful consideration, I realized that I had to emphasize and remind the students, not to forget that death is everybody’s destiny. 

We have to earn our living, be responsible with our jobs and follow our dreams forgetting that “in the end, we are all going to die”. So, if that is our destiny, what are we doing right now?

Death is a very scary and shocking feeling, but when we see it too often, we get used to it, and don’t mind running away from the cycle of death and birth. We accept it as if it is meant to be, but when our loved ones have passed away, we mourn and feel depressed as if we don’t have to face the same fate. After overcoming grief, we live our lives as if nothing had happened and as if death was not a part of it. That is why people live their lives carelessly. But for those who are already aware that our destiny is death, they should ponder about it before their life comes to an end, that the body will eventually become stiff, decayed and will be burnt to ashes.

So what should we do to make the time we have left the most valuable?

We live from the time we are children until our last breath, and in the end we will turn to ashes. So why do we remain attached to our emotions if in the end we can take nothing with us? The mind is also a current. It cannot take anything with it. Not a house, a car, money, treasures or even our loved ones. So why are people so obsessed with worldly pleasures, accumulating ego and living their lives for such fake happiness? We have become marathon runners, running to get away from suffering and looking for happiness that will not last forever….unless we  eradicate the illusion.

The path of Vipassana practice serves to escape the cycle of rebirth permanently. You don’t escape by watching a movie, listening to music or traveling. This way of escaping rebirth actually only boosts your morale, it  helps by not making  your life so depressing by not putting too much pressure on yourself. On the contrary, the true escape is practicing your mind to get rid of the seed of rebirth. I have successfully escaped; I will take the faithful to escape with me.

Now that I am still alive, I allocate my time to many kinds of work. I set priorities and deal with urgent matters first. After that, I do what is less urgent. In reality, I live with the present moment, with the now.

If a problem needs to be fixed, I do it immediately. I will never wait for tomorrow or next week. In fact, living with the now  like this, generates change and leads to success in goal accomplishment and in every area of our life. It helps us to focus and be more task-oriented. While meditating, the mind must remain fixed on the object of the meditation. Not sending the mind into the past or the future. While working, we focus on the work. When the work is done, we can get on to the next task. There is no procrastination,  only prioritization according to importance.

I’ve taught my students that when there’s a problem, we must fix it right away. We should not wait  till next week, just do it right away. Make a plan and fix it right away. We have to stay with the  now, not with the  day after tomorrow.
In our last moments , we must stay with our breath, not with anything else. Just breathe in the present moment., work in the present moment…

Practice like this and it will make the mind powerful.

Photo by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay