The final goal

Be one-pointed. 

Have you ever seen a film clip of a parachutist landing in a circle on the ground? Sometimes they film it from top, with his feet showing on screen and the circle wavering beyond. During the travel down, beautiful sceneries pass beneath his feet -- rolling mountains, wandering rivers; birds fly around him and the billowing parachute is so colourful against the sky. The parachutist loves it all -- it is why he goes skydiving. 

But he never loses sight of that circle on the ground. While enjoying all this, he ensures that the aim of his feet keep coming back to that circle drawn far away, but getting bigger all the time. 

 The only truth of life is death. The only purpose of life is managing death well. Life is there to distract and to give enjoyment. But death, like gravity, has its inexorable pull. The single-pointed mind, intensely focussed on retaining poise and landing with light feet in the circle, is ever ready to pass through death.

Live for death

The most important state of mind is that which happens at the point of death. 

That is the the only travelling-case that is carried from this life to the next one, and the contents are very important. The serenity, peace or calmness that we so desire to achieve should actually be a constant state. As if, if I were to die now, I should be able to do so without regrets. 

But how many of us can say that right now? It is difficult to keep cleaning the house all the time expecting a surprise visit from your mother-in-law. 

So do it once a day, thoroughly and honestly, and not just shoving the dirty things out of sight into drawers, but also throwing them out altogether. Look at yourself in the mirror. Are there black marks on the serenity? Wash your face during meditation. Use prayers and gratitude as soap. If every morning the house is clean, your mother-in-law can never find much dirt, no? 

Preparing for death is not an old man's job. The purpose of life is to prepare for death. So the earlier we start preparing, the better prepared we are.