19. Socrates was sentenced to death by poison. He said then, "I am old. This body is due to be destroyed in a short while. What valour do you show by destroying that which is about to perish? 

Consider, some day the body has to die. Where is the credit in killing that which is mortal?" The night before he was to drink hemlock and die, he taught his pupils about immortality of the soul. He described with zest the effects the poison would have on the body, He did not shrink from it the least. As soon as he finished speaking of the immortality of the soul, one
of his pupils asked him, "What rites would you like us to perform when you are no more?" He replied, "How wonderful! They will kill me and you will bury me! 

Those who kill me are my enemies, and you who bury me are my great friends! They kill me cleverly and you bury me cleverly! Who are you to bury me? I am as clever as you.
Where will you bury me? In the earth or in the tomb? No one can kill me, and no one can bury me. Has all my teaching been in vain? The Self is immortal. Who can kill it, who can bury it?" And, indeed, for twenty-five centuries, this great man Socrates has been standing aloft, watching every one else being buried!

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