誰也不知道自己能過多少個生日，不是嗎

You Don’t Know How Many Birthdays You Will See， Do You

On a certain day， Shankaran Pillai went fishing in his boat. After some waiting， something tugged on the line and soon he got it out. He saw the fish had silver and gold-colored fins. It was very beautiful. He put it in the boat and the fish started thrashing①for life.

Then， to his surprise， it spoke，\"Let me go into the river. J ust put me back in the water. I will give you three wishes. You can ask for anything but put me back in the water now.\" Shankaran Pillai thought for a few minutes. The fish was thrashing for life， getting weaker and weaker. Then he said， \"Okay make it five wishes， I’ll let you go.\" The fish said， \"No， three.\" A lready the voice was weak. Then Shankaran Pillai thought for a few more minutes and said， \"Okay four-and-ahalf.\" The fish was very weak. He said，\"No， only three， I can do only three.\" Then Shankaran Pillai again said， \"Okay let’s make a deal–four.\" The fish didn’t say anything， it was dead.

Life is very brief. In that， if you try to make deals， before you know what’s happening it will be over. Birthdays are a reminder that it’s getting over. It’s like a sack with a hole. Before you know what’s happening， the empty sack will fall apart. Life is just slipping all the time. If one doesn’t come awake， if one doesn’t put all his attention towards his inner wellbeing②， the moment of death will be a regret. And you don’t know how many birthdays you will see， do you？

有一天，善卡蘭·彼萊在船上垂釣，等了許久終于有東西在咬繩，他把魚竿拽出水面后看到一條美麗的魚兒，有著金銀色交織的魚鰭。他把魚放到船里，魚兒開始胡亂拍打，掙扎求生。

這時，出人意料的事情發生了，魚開口說話了，它說：“讓我回到水里去吧，如果你把我放生，我會滿足你3個愿望，只要現在把我放回水里，你可以要求任何事情。”善卡蘭·彼萊想了一會兒，看著魚兒還在繼續掙扎，但越來越無力的樣子，說道：“如果你能滿足我5個愿望，我就放你走。”魚兒用虛弱的語氣說：“不行，只能3個。”善卡蘭·彼萊又想了更長的時間說：“那好，四個半吧”。此時的魚兒已經非常虛弱了，但它還是說：“不行，只能3個，我只能做到3個。”善卡蘭·彼萊又說：“好了，就4個吧。”魚兒什么也沒說，因為它已經死了。

生命很短暫。如果你嘗試做交易，在你還不知道會發生什么的時候生命就可能會終止。生日會提醒你生命在慢慢走向終點。這就像是一個有洞的麻袋，在你還不知道有洞的時候，空空的麻袋就會四分五裂。生命一直在流逝。如果一個人未曾覺醒，如果一個人不把他全部的精力放在追求內心安樂上，那么死亡時刻來臨的時候他將非常后悔。誰也不知道自己能過多少個生日，不是嗎？