The Palace of Illusions

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

“time will teach you what you refuse to learn from your well-wishers.”

“Can’t you ever be serious?” I said, mortified. “It’s difficult,” he said. “There’s so little in life that’s worth it.”

“A situation in itself,” he said, “is neither happy nor unhappy. It’s only your response to it that causes your sorrow. But enough of philosophy! I’m hungry.”

Let the past go. Be at ease. Allow the future to arrive at its own pace, unfurling its secrets when it will.

Just as we cast off worn clothes and wear new ones, when the time arrives, the soul casts off the body and finds a new one to work out its karma. Therefore the wise grieve neither for the living nor the dead.