The living act as if they are immortal
About three thousand years ago, in India, the epic Mahabharata was composed — one of the longest literary works in human history, roughly four times the length of War and Peace.
The most famous part is the Bhagavad Gita (“Song of God”), where Krishna teaches the warrior Arjuna how to live rightly and understand his duty.
But there are other parts too, like the episode called The Questions of the Yaksha. In it, the wise prince Yudhishthira is tested by a mystical being with a series of philosophical riddles. One of them is:
“What is the most amazing thing in the world?” Yudhishthira replies:
“Day after day, countless people die. Yet the living act as if they are immortal. That is the most amazing thing.”
I came across this line while reading a popular science book on physics (The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli) — the topic was time. The discussion veered into philosophy, and this thought felt perfectly placed.
Tags: philosophy, books
