"Death will make everything secure. While alive, enjoy insecurity.'

"Insecurity is synonymous with being alive. The more you are alive, the more insecure. The less you are alive, the less insecure. Do you want the safety and security of death? There, it is absolute.

"A Sufi story: A great king was very much afraid of death. He had invaded many lands, created many enemies, and simultaneously he had created many nightmares that he would be assassinated, that he would be murdered, that he could not trust anybody. All around there were spies of the enemies who were trying to take their kingdoms back. Finally, it became too much to bear. He ordered that a beautiful house should be made, with a special instruction: there should not be any windows, nor any doors except the one from which he would come in and go out. Just to be secure, so nobody could assassinate him, nobody could murder him…as a protection.

"And in front of that one door, he had seven lines of guards. He could not trust one line of guards because, who knows?…they might conspire and then he would be utterly helpless. He could not even get any help from outside. Just one guard could enter in and kill him.

"Against the first line, a second line of guards to keep an eye on the first line. But where do you have to end? This is called in logic, 'infinite regress.' Then a third line to watch over the second line. But one has to stop somewhere.

"He thought seven lines were enough. It was impossible for all the guards to be together. He had managed those seven lines with people who were antagonistic to each other. For example, one line of guards was of Mohammedans, another was of Christians, another was of Hindus, and so on and so forth.

"The neighboring king – also a great emperor and a friend of the king who had made this house – heard about it. He was also suffering from the same paranoia. He came to visit him and to see his new place. And he was amazed at the way he had managed the security.

"And when he was taking leave…the king had come out to give him a send-off, they were old friends."