A palliative care worker who had a best-selling book—her name is Bronnie Ware— she wrote a book that got translated into 31 different languages around the world, called "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing." Her book is a series of stories of people that she took care of. She was in palliative care and had a window into their lives. Some of them were in their 90s, some of them were in their 30s and younger. And all of them had some similar regrets, and it's one of the things she talks about, especially in her book.

So that's what Stephen Covey talks about for managing anything is: begin with the end in mind. So why not do it with your life? Because we know it has a beginning and an end, and if we try to pretend otherwise, then that's a kind of ostrich philosophy—putting one's head in the sand and just forget about it. It's better to be fully cognizant and prepare for death. She points out that you can have a much fuller life, actually, when you go with eyes open and don't consider death or the subject taboo.

This is pointed out—that it's taboo or something that we stuff psychologically—meaning we just put it out of our mind and into our subconscious, and then it comes out in very unhealthy ways, by a conversation with Yudhiṣṭhira and Yamarāja in the Mahābhārata that everyone's familiar with, I'm sure. This is in the context of the Pāndavas becoming uncharacteristically thirsty and coming to drink water, being warned by a stork—is it a stork or a pelican? Or what kind of bird is it? A stork? Okay, a stork—that said, "Don't drink the water, it's poison," but they were so thirsty, they drank it anyway. But Yudhiṣṭhira abided by the warning, and the stork said, "First you answer my questions, then you can drink." And one of the questions the stork asked...

(excerpt from the talk)

To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/

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https://thefourquestionsbook.com/

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