 Today's story is about a man called Akrit, horrible man, womanizer, gambler, used to do black magic, used to eat human flesh. I mean, you name it, he did it. One day, as he's sitting in the cremation ground, I told you he used to eat human flesh, as he's sitting in the cremation ground, his friend says to him, bring me the body of a freshly killed Brahmin and I will give to you the power to bring people back from the dead. And Akrit says to him, what a stupid power to offer anybody. I mean, does it look like I'm bringing people back from the dead? Like I'm in the business of bringing people back from the dead. Is that what we do here in the cremation ground every day? What a dumb thing to offer anybody. Make it something useful, like, yeah, fine, I mean, give me that mantra, give me that power anyway to bring people back from the dead like you offered, because maybe one day I might want to experiment with that as well. Give me maybe a pair of magic dice so that every time I gamble, I will always win. Give me that and you have a deal. The friend agrees, so Akrit goes back to his house, he kills his brother because that's the only Brahmin he can lay his hands on very easily. I told you, he's a horrible man. Kills his brother, brings him back to his friend who promptly gives him both the mantra with which to bring people back to life as well as a pair of magic dice. Now, Akrit parks the mantra at the back of his head. He doesn't need to use it just now, but he goes straight to the casino and he gambles all night and to his great delight, he wins every single game. He's absolutely thrilled, he makes lots of money, settles down at a brand new house, everything is wonderful, but then one night as he's coming back from the cremation ground, he notices on the funeral pyre a half burnt corpse. And he starts to wonder that this mantra that he has to bring people back from the dead, does that only work if the body is complete or will it also work if the body has been burnt? I mean like will this magic mantra put the body back together and then bring it back to life? I mean it's worth thinking about and it's worth experimenting with. And so Akrit stands over this half burnt corpse and he starts to recite the mantra, but he's barely even started when suddenly he notices that the left leg of the corpse has started to twitch. The right side the body was the one that had been burnt, but the left side was still whole. The left leg has started to twitch and before he can even move the left eye has suddenly flown open and the left eyeball has started to rotate wildly in its socket. Akrit gets such a fright that he leaves the body where it is, he leaves the mantra as it is half finished and he makes a run for it. And he runs as fast as he can till he gets back to his house, locks the door, pushes all the furniture in front of the door and goes and hides under the table, shivering and shaking, hoping and praying that no harm will come to him. Now he sits under that table for a couple of hours and then he starts to think that maybe he overreacted, that certainly that half burnt corpse, that half alive corpse is not going to come looking for him, but just as he thinks that the door handle rattles and the door is pushed open and in walks the half alive corpse, shuffling along on its left leg, the dead right leg hanging behind him, the left eye going wild in its socket, muttering something under its breath. Akrit almost dies with fright but he's not going to wait to find out what the corpse is trying to say to him, what it's actually muttering under its breath. Behind him there's a window, he jumps out that window and once again he makes a run for it. He runs through the night, he runs through the following day till he gets to the next town and when he gets to the next town he finally breathes a sigh of relief because he thinks well that half alive corpse on that one leg is not going to be able to find me over here. I will be safe finally. Once again he settles down to his new life, he's got his magic dice so he goes to the casino, he gambles every night, he wins every game he ever plays, makes lots of money, buys a new house, makes new friends, settles down but one night as he's sitting in the casino with five of his friends the door of the casino opens and in walks that half alive corpse shuffling along on its left leg, its dead right leg hanging behind him. By now the flesh on the right leg has become so rotten that it started to hang off it. The left eye is still going wild in its socket, the muttering has now increased almost to a growling, it's sounding really angry. The five men who are sitting in the room, they take one look at the corpse and they die of fright where they are sitting. They literally just fall to the ground, die of fright. Akrit doesn't die of fright, he's seen this corpse before, he doesn't die of fright but once again he doesn't want to know what this corpse wants from him. There's a window again behind him, jumps out the window and once again he makes a run for it. He runs for several days without stopping, without even looking back to see what's happening till he gets to the next kingdom and once he gets to the next kingdom he figures actually this time I really will be safe because this is truly too far for that corpse to catch up with me. So with his magic dice he goes back to the casino, makes lots of money, buys himself a new house, gets himself a new mistress, settles down to a wonderful new life. But one evening as he's sitting in his new house with his new mistress enjoying her company, the door of the house opens and in walks that half alive corpse shuffling along on its left leg, the dead right leg hanging behind it and by now the flesh on the dead right leg has become so rotten that even the maggots have gotten into it. It's a petrifying sight. The left eye is going wild and it's socket. The growling has become even angrier. What had started off as a muttering. By now it's sounding really furious. The poor mistress takes one look at the corpse and she dies of fright where she is. Akrit as before doesn't die of fright when he sees the corpse but he still doesn't want to confront the corpse so as always there's a window behind him. He jumps out the window but this time he's forgotten in his fear that he's sitting on the second floor of his house. He's sitting on the second story so when he jumps out of this window which is on the second story he falls all the way to the ground below and is dashed to death. Weird story, definitely. What happened to the corpse before somebody asks? I don't know because the story doesn't say so. Is there a lesson to this story? Always. And what is that lesson? It's about understanding the importance of finishing what you start. About having the self-discipline to finish what you start. I guess it's based on the idea of Akrit not finishing the mantra when he's bringing the corpse back to life. About him leaving it halfway because it just became too difficult for him to do and I think unfortunately this is something that we're all guilty of at some point or the other. You start something and then either it becomes boring or becomes too difficult to do or somebody else is doing something that seems like so much more fun and we decide not to finish what we've started and then we justify it by saying that surely it's better for me to leave what I'm not enjoying and actually pursue something that is going to make me happier. Actually no. They say that this habit of not finishing what we start or this habit of jumping from one thing to the other is one of the main causes behind mental health issues. It's one of the main reasons behind depression because a mind that is full of unfinished thoughts it becomes a cluttered mind and it leaves you no space in there for peace. And so although it might seem like a really small thing that I started this but now I want to move on because I'm bored with this and what's the big deal? It is actually a big deal. The thoughts that you do not finish the thoughts that you do not lay to rest I find over time it starts to get toxic. You know just like in the story you have the corpse and every time you see it it started to rot and decay a little bit more. The same thing happens with everything inside your head and so the thoughts that are not laid to rest over time they become so toxic that they actually become like poison inside and so this idea of the importance of finishing what you start is all about decluttering the mind. It's all about understanding how to remove that poison from your mind, the toxins from your mind so that every day you can start afresh because you know what your mental health begins and ends right here. You can do all the yoga, you can do all the meditation that you want but it's all about what goes on over here and this has to be kept pristine. It has to be kept uncluttered and pure.