Letter to Menoeceus (Hindi/हिंदी में)

No one should delay learning wisdom when young, nor grow tired of it when old. At every age, caring for the soul matters. Saying that it is too early or too late to study philosophy is like saying it is too early or too late to seek happiness. Both young and old should search for wisdom: the old so that they may stay youthful in spirit by remembering the good they have lived, and the young so they may become mature early by removing fear of the future. So we must train ourselves in the things that bring happiness. If happiness is present, we have everything; if it is absent, everything we do is only to gain it.Hold firmly to the teachings I repeat to you, for they form the foundation of a good life. First, believe that God is a living, immortal, and blessed being—something greater and happier than ourselves. But we must not imagine the gods as the crowd does, for people often create false ideas about them. The impious person is not the one who denies the gods of the majority, but the one who believes wrong things about them. The gods are good, peaceful, and untroubled, and they do not reward or punish humans. They simply exist in perfect happiness, and we should contemplate them as models of serenity.Get used to believing that death is nothing to us. Good and evil can be felt only when there is awareness. Death is the absence of awareness, and so it is nothing to fear. Understanding this frees us from the longing for immortality. Life becomes more pleasant when we stop fearing its end. Foolish is the person who says he fears death not because it will hurt, but because the thought of it troubles him. But what does not disturb us when it happens should not disturb us beforehand. When we exist, death is not present. When death arrives, we no longer exist. So death means nothing to either the living or the dead.People sometimes fear death as the worst evil and at other times choose it as an escape from suffering. The wise person does neither. He does not reject life nor fear its end. He values the most pleasant life, not the longest. It is foolish to tell the young to live well and the old to prepare a good death, because learning to live well also teaches us to die well.We must remember that the future is partly ours and partly not. We should not count on it with certainty, nor despair as if it will never come. Desires are of three kinds: natural and necessary, natural but not necessary, and groundless. Necessary desires include those essential for happiness, for freeing the body from pain, and for life itself. One who understands this will direct choices toward bodily health and peace of mind—the true goals of a happy life.The aim of all our actions is to avoid pain and fear. When we have achieved this, the soul becomes calm. A living being needs nothing more when free of pain and fear. Pleasure is the foundation of a happy life; it is our first and natural good. Our choices and rejections begin from pleasure and return to it. Yet we do not choose every pleasure, because some lead to greater pain. Nor do we avoid every pain, because some pains lead to greater pleasure later. Therefore, we must weigh pleasures and pains carefully.We value independence from unnecessary things. Those who need little enjoy luxury most when it comes. Natural desires are easy to satisfy, while unnecessary desires are difficult. Simple food provides as much pleasure as expensive food when hunger is gone. Training ourselves to live simply strengthens us, prepares us for fortune’s ups and downs, and lets us enjoy luxuries without depending on them.When we say pleasure is the goal, people misunderstand us. We do not mean a life of excess or unending parties. True pleasure is the absence of bodily pain and the absence of disturbance in the soul.