Prabhupāda: Then why do they propose, "Prolong life"? What is the use of such prolonged life, stand up in a place without any power to move an inch, and suffer all climatic disturbances? Is that very good life? Everyone is . . . even if he lives for more years, the bodily, mental and external sufferings will be there. What is the use of living such prolonged life? Hmm? Prolonged life, does it guarantee that these three kinds of miseries—bodily, mental and external, natural; there are so many disturbances—he will be free from all these disturbances? Simply dog's obstinacy, that's all.
Harikeśa: There's a Greek fable about that. There's a Greek fable that this one lady got some benediction that she would live forever, except she forgot to ask for eternal youth.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Harikeśa: She forgot to ask to always be young. So she was very, very old and decrepit, and finally they just put her in a jar, and some young boys were playing with the jar, and they asked, "What do you want?" And she said: "I want to die."
Prabhupāda: Yes. When one suffers too much he commits suicide. Life becomes very troublesome. When the suffering is too much acute, they commit suicide. So that is not a solution, "We have prolonged life." First of all, there is no prolonged. Even accepting it is prolonged, what is the benefit?
Harikeśa: Actually, even if they didn't do anything, they would live the same amount.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Everyone is destined to live for a certain period. You cannot prolong it, neither reduce it.
Harikeśa: What about all these sufferings of the body? Let's say one has a toothache or something like that. If . . .
Prabhupāda: No. That I have already said, that as soon as you accept this material body, you must suffer. That is the way.
Harikeśa: So if you fix one thing, another thing will just go bad?