Beyond Death
When Woodrow Wilson
became the President of America, the whole family was celebrating.
His friends all over the country were dancing in happiness, he was
crying and weeping in his room.
The wife approached. She could not believe her eyes because Woodrow
Wilson was sitting on his chair near the window, head leaning
downwards, as sad as he had ever been seen before, with tears
rolling down. With deep love the wife asked the husband, 'What has
happened? Why are you crying and weeping?'
He looked up with sad eyes. He said, 'Now that I have become the
President of the most powerful country, now that I have become the
most powerful man, I realize tremendously the whole absurdity of it.
Nothing is gained, and I have wasted my whole life. Now I understand
the futility of power, because sooner or later, death will be
coming, and I am powerless against it.'
And if your power is powerless against death, then it is just a
deception. Unless you attain to the deathless, your power is not
power, it is a false coin.
And who can attain power against death? - one who attains to true
emptiness, positive emptiness. The other name for that emptiness is
deep inner fulfillment. You are not filled with straw, but you are
filled with your own awareness. You are not filled with furniture:
cars, houses, money, and other nonsense. You are just filled with
your being, the sheer am-ness, the sheer existence. Then there is no
death for you.