body, together with fear of death. This is present in everyone. It is present in an ant,
in a worm and in an insect, and it is present in the wisest of people. Even the wisest
of people do not like to die; there is always a desire to live. We take tonics and other
things for prolonging life so that we may not die quickly.
Why should we not die quickly? There is no answer for it. We should not die quickly
because—it is very clear, the whole answer is there—it is the affirmation of the
pleasure principle in life which prevents the very possibility of accepting the
impending destruction of individuals. This feeling for life is spontaneously manifest;
it does not require any effort to reveal it. Svarasavahi—we may not have to work
hard to create this love for life; it is there inborn, ingrained. It is one with us; it is
ourselves. It is our own essential nature—svabhava, svarupa—and so it is called
svarasavahi. Just as the flow of a river is spontaneous, moving of its own accord—we
need not push it from outside, or behind—so also this love of individual life is
spontaneous in its movement and persists in the idiot and the wise equally, in the
child and the learned equally, without any distinction, because it is the love of
existence itself. Viduṣaḥ api tatha ārūḍhaḥ (II.9). It is very vehemently present, very
forcefully functioning, even in the most learned, educated. Even a genius he may be,
but the love of life is present in him. This is called abhinivesa. All this has come out
of the precedent causation which we have mentioned.
Why is it that we fear death and love life? Because we love pleasure and dislike pain—
and death is pain. What can be a greater pain than death, which is the annihilation of
all positive values and possibilities of satisfaction in life? Because the love of pleasure
and the dislike for its opposite is the aim and objective of every activity of the mind
and the senses, it clings to the cause and to the possibility of such enterprise—which
is the sense of being that is asmita. Hence, we have to maintain our individuality in
order that it can be used as an instrument for the satisfaction of pleasure. Therefore,
the instinct of self-preservation is very hard to overcome. It is the strongest of
instincts. We want to preserve ourselves.
This preservation of the individual is physical as well as psychological. When it is
physical it comes as hunger, thirst, heat, cold, etc., which are indications that some
threat is there to the existence and welfare of our physical being. Heat, cold, hunger,
thirst are indications or symbols of the possibility of this physical individual
withering if proper care is not taken. We have to go on plastering a wall every now
and then so that the plaster may not drop down. Likewise, there is also a desire to
maintain the psychological individuality by the affirmation of the ego. Hence, we
affirm the body and the ego at the same time. Together with the desire for food,
clothing, shelter, drink, etc., there is also a desire for prestige, self-esteem and
position in society. A good word, name, fame, power, authority—all these come under
love of ego, and that keeps the ego intact, just as the body is kept intact by food,
drink, etc.
Either way, and both ways, the instinct for life works: on the one hand, by working
hard for the preservation of the physical individuality, and simultaneously with it,
working for the preservation of the psychological individuality. While there is a
desire to live as a physical body, due to which we hunger for food and drink, etc., at
the same time there is also a desire to maintain a worthwhileness in one’s
individuality; one must be an important individual. That is why there is desire for a
good word, for name, fame, etc. Even the most foolish of persons would not like to be