Chuang Tzu's wife had died, so the Emperor also came to pay his respects. Chuang Tzu was a great sage, so even the Emperor came to make condolences. He was also a friend of the Emperor because sometimes he would call Chuang Tzu to his palace to learn his wisdom. Chuang Tzu was just a beggar, but he was a great sage.

The Emperor came. He had rehearsed in his mind what to say to Chuang Tzu because Chuang Tzu's wife had died. He thought of every good things to console him, but the moment he saw Chuang Tzu he became very uneasy, because instead of being sad, Chuang Tzu was singing. He was sitting under a tree playing his instrument, singing loudly. He looked very happy, as if nothing had happened in the morning. Just in the morning his wife had died.

The Emperor became uneasy and he said, "Chuang Tzu, it is enough if you are not weeping, but the singing is too much. It is going too far!"
Chuang Tzu asked, "But why should I weep?"
The emperor said, "It seems you have not heard that your wife is dead.".
Chuang Tzu said, "Of course, my wife is dead, but still, why should I weep? If she is dead, she is dead. And I never expected that she was going to live forever. You weep because you expect that your people are going to live forever. I never expected that she was going to live forever. I always knew she was going to die any day, and this day it happened. This was going to happen any day, and any day is as good for death as any other day, so why should I not sing? If I cannot sing when there is death, then I cannot sing in life, because life is a continuous death. Every moment death will occur somewhere to someone. Life is a continuous death. If I cannot sing at the moment of death, I cannot sing at all."

He further said - "Life and death are not two things. They are one. The moment someone is born, death is born with him. When you are growing in life you are also growing in death, and whatsoever is known as death is nothing but the peak of your so-called life. So why should I not sing? And, moreover, the poor woman has lived so many years with me, so will you not allow me to sing a little in gratitude when she has left? She must go in peace, harmony, music and love. You weep only when you expect and the expected doesn't happen. I never expected that she was going to be here forever, so when you do not expect, when you do not desire, you cannot be discontented. "

The Emperor had got another wisdom,

REFLECTION
This is a Greek story. In western philosophy, people live by eating, drinking and be merry principle. This is not our Hindu philosophy. Although we should also live our last moments, but not in this way. So some people might argue that "then why this story is given here?" It is given here because of the concept that "yes, we must live our last moments fully" but not in this way. According to our philosophy, we should earn as much Punya, or as much Satsang, or as much noble acts as we can. The examples of this situation are of Pareekshit and ---. When Pareekshit heard that he was ging to die in 7 days, he spent those 7 days in listening to Bhaagvat Puraan; and when --- came to know that he was going to die in two Ghadee time (50 minutes) he spent that time in doing Yog - left his mortal body by Yog and went to Swarg.