And Siddhartha said quietly, as if he was talk­ing to him­self: “What is med­it­a­tion? What is leav­ing one’s body? What is fast­ing? What is hold­ing one’s breath? It is flee­ing from the self, it is a short es­cape of the agony of be­ing a self, it is a short numb­ing of the senses against the pain and the point­less­ness of life.