Engrossed in the Business of Life, Man earns just the Samskaras

A merchant calculates the debit and credit at the end of a week or month or year and draws up the balance sheet, to arrive at one figure - his earnings. So too, in this business of life, everything ends in some bit of net earnings, all the giving and taking concludes. At the very end of life, it is the small quantity that will come into the memory. Those experiences that persist to the very last moment, the two or three that well up into consciousness when one recalls all that has happened in life, these are the real sustainers, the genuine achievements.

This does not mean that all other acts and all other experiences have been a waste. Forgetting them means only that their work has been accomplished and their value realized.

When business is done with thousands of rupees, one's heart freezes if a loss of a few thousands is sustained; the heart leaps in joy, when a few thousands are gained. Such is the story of the business of life. If at the point of death, one yearns to cater to the tongue, it is proof that throughout life the tongue has to be the master. If at the point of death, the woman remembers the child and seeks to fondle it, the Samskara of child-love has been predominant, all through life. It proves that all other experiences have been thrown into oblivion.

Thus, of the Samskaras of life, some one or other, stronger than the rest, stand out to the last. Life is like that; this has to be learnt. The net result of all this living and toiling is that which comes to memory at the last moment of life. Therefore, direct the entire current of life towards the acquisition of that Samskara which you feel best for the last moment. Fix your attention upon it, day and night. The feeling that dominates the moment of death works with great force in the coming life. This truth must guide man for the journey of this life too, for Samskaras are the wherewithal for this journey, as well as for the journey after this.