... clinging to this no-belief. This disbelief has become his practice, his religion. Now he cannot simply rest; he has to argue - argue against God, argue against religion, try to prove that God does not exist. For what? What is the point? Your precious life is wasted. And he believes that he has only one life; after death there will be no life. Then this is foolhardy, then this is simply stupid - to waste...

.... It is good to be born as a Hindu, but to die as a Hindu is ugly. It is good to be born as a Christian, but to die as a Christian? That means your whole life has been a wastage. One should grow out of all confinements - theistic, atheistic. He is not a rationalist; otherwise he would have grown. Irrationalism has two alternatives: theism, atheism. A rationalist can only be an agnostic - like...

... must be in danger. Have you ever been threatened?" And he says, "No, I have never been threatened, but I always take precautions." For what? If you die nothing dies. because in the first place there was no soul. If you die nothing is lost. You were just a coincidence, an accident. If Dr. Kovoor dies, nothing dies. With God disappear all values, all beauty, all ecstasy, all love, all...

... significance. Why are you taking precautions, for what? He says, "I don't believe in any existence after death." Have you known death? Have you experienced death? Without experiencing death, how can you say that there is no existence beyond death? This is not very rational. This is very childish. This is very mediocre, not even intelligent. Unless you have passed through death, how can you assert...

... that there is no life beyond death? You can only say, "I don't know." You cannot say, "I KNOW there is no life." And if there is no life after death, how can life be before death? If there is no life after death, then there was no life before birth. There is no life before birth, there is no life after death; just suddenly between birth and death life exists? - out of nothing, out...

... incapable of creating a single grain of sand or of destroying a single grain of sand. You can grind it, you can change the form, but it will remain in another form. Only the form changes; life goes on. And he says, "I believe there is going to be no life after death." And who is this who is saying all this nonsense? Who is this? Matter cannot talk. And who is taking precautions? Life must be...

..., so many possibilities challenge humanity, bring forth the best in you. Atheism is just uncreative. In fact it has to be so because there can be no creation out of a negative attitude. The negative attitude is more like death than like life. "No" is death; "yes" is life. When you say yes, doors open; when you say no, all doors close. Religion has been very, very productive; and...

.... The CURRENT asked where he will be after death. Kovoor said, "I will not be anywhere.... I do not believe that I have a soul." I remember, once Mulla Nasrudin invited his friends to his house. In some moment of excitement in the coffeehouse he was bragging about his generosity, and then somebody said, "Mulla Nasrudin, if you are so generous, why don't you invite us someday?" He...

... have not died yet. Wait, let me die. Only then will I know whether I survive or not." This is pure rationalism. A rationalist cannot assert such things, that "I don't believe in a soul." Then, the CURRENT asked him, "Does Bhagwan Rajneesh have a soul?" It amused me very much. How can you ask somebody else about my soul? And he could not even gather courage to say, "How...

... the future is allowed, the past has to be dropped. Only by dying to the past does one become available to the future. I would like Dr. Kovoor to come here, taste some of the energy of my people. Although it is very late, better late than never. If before you die you can have a taste of something beyond, it will be good. Sooner or later, Dr. Kovoor, you will be dying. It is better to have some...

... preparation. It is better to be ready for an after-death life. It is possible. And when I say it is possible, I am not talking theoretically. I am.a very practical man, down to earth. I am a Jew! I mean business. If you come here and allow me to dismantle you a little, to destroy you a little, I can create you again. This is a promise. Question 1: YOU SAY IT CAN'T BE SAID. AND SOMEWHERE IT IS WRITTEN: WHAT...

... than thinking of resurrection and healing miracles, go deep inside yourself and look into your fear of death. There is no resurrection, but if you go deep into your fear of death, it disappears. And with the fear of death, death disappears. Then you know you are eternal life. There is no resurrection. Resurrection is possible only if first you DIE! You never die. Nobody has ever died. Death is a myth...

...! The word myth comes from a Sanskrit root MITHYA. MITHYA means false. Death is a falsity. Death has never happened - never is going to happen. It cannot happen in the very case. Life is eternal, only forms change. You die here, your flame disappears in this body. and it becomes embodied in some other body, you are born in some other womb. And so on and so forth. And even when there is no more birth...

... death arises. You need not learn the art of resurrection. You have simply to learn that death does not exist; there is no need to resurrect because you cannot die in the first place! Rather than being intrigued by Jesus miracles, perform a miracle, Mantra: go into yourself. That is the only miracle. Go into your fear of death, and go on deeper into it, and see WHERE it is, WHAT it is. Watch it. And...

... food need is not fulfilled - thousands of people die every year because of starvation, and those who are not dying are undernourished - so they cannot have higher needs, they cannot think of beauty, and they cannot think of stars. And they cannot see dewdrops on the grasses in the morning, and they cannot see the sun rising - that is not possible. The body needs to be completely satisfied. When the...

... THE 'MIRACLES' OF JESUS, ESPECIALLY HIS HEALINGS AND HIS RESURRECTION. HE HAS ALSO SAID THAT OTHERS COULD DO THE SAME. IS THIS POSSIBLE? IF SO, HOW? AND IS IT NECESSARY FOR THE PHYSICAL BODY TO DIE BEFORE ONE LEARNS HOW TO MANIFEST AND DE-MANIFEST AT WILL? I HAVE REBIRTHER FRIENDS WHO HAVE DEVELOPED SOME 'POWERS': TELEPORTATION, ASTRAL DOUBLE, TRANSFORMING ONE'S BODY FORM AND FUNCTIONS. IS IT...

... afraid of death - that's why the interest in resurrection. It has nothing to ,do with Jesus and his resurrection, it has something to do with your deep fear of death. The interest IN THE 'MIRACLES' OF JESUS, ESPECIALLY HIS HEALINGS AND HIS RESURRECTION... Mantra must be very much afraid of death and illness. This interest arises because of that fear, otherwise who bothers? If you are not afraid of...

... death, who bothers about resurrection? It is fear. In fact, if it is proved absolutely that there had been no resurrection in Jesus' life, ninety-nine per cent of Christians will drop being Christian, because then what is the point? They have been hanging around this person with the idea that he knows the secret of resurrecting himself, somehow he will impart his secrets and keys to them. Or maybe, if...

... he does not show the art, at least he can do the miracles for them; he can save them. It is fear of death. If it is proved absolutely that Jesus never did any healing miracles, then you will not find many Christians in the world; they will disappear. They are not interested in Jesus at all. Their whole interest is in how to protect themselves from illness, and finally, from death. Mantra, rather...

... not have any visible mark; it will just be a small life cell. It was you Then during those nine months. your form goes on changing, changing, changing. And then your whole life the form goes on changing. Form is a flux. You never die! Form dies every clay. But the problem arises because you have become too identified with the form. You think I am the form. You think I am this body. Then the fear of...

... don't rationalise, and don't bring theories borrowed from the outside to console yourself. Don't say that soul is eternal, no; you don't know yet. I am saying it is eternal, but that is not your knowledge. Don't make it your consolation. You have to go trembling, you have to go with fear, you have to descend the staircase of death. You have to go to the very end. You have to see the whole possibility...

... of death - what it is. In that very seeing you will be surprised that you are not it. You are not the body, you are not even the mind. You are just pure life energy, you are a witness. In that witnessing is the real miracle. You say: I AM VERY INTERESTED IN THE 'MIRACLES' OF JESUS, ESPECIALLY HIS HEALINGS AND HIS RESURRECTION. You are not interested in Jesus at all. If you are interested in his...

... touched people's eyes and their ears and opened them. And all are dead! - because you are identified with the body, which is death. You are identified with the form, which is death. Yes, he helped many people to come out of death. That is the meaning of the story of Lazarus. He called forth Lazarus, Come out! On the ordinary plane it seems that he called him from his grave. On the higher plane it means...

... SAME. IS THIS POSSIBLE? IF SO, HOW? AND IS IT NECESSARY FOR THE PHYSICAL BODY TO DIE BEFORE ONE LEARNS HOW TO MANIFEST AND DE-MANIFEST AT WILL? Will is the source of ego. Let it be understood deeply. ALL is possible if the will is dissolved into God's will. ALL IS possible - with no conditions. But if you want to do it AT WILL, then you will become more and more egoistic. And that's what happens...

... fighting, it is a friction, a struggle. And if he goes on keeping himself alert, a moment comes when the body surrenders. Then he can be awake and sleep will not come any more. With this he will become very very WILLFUL. Now he can do many things. He can say to somebody 'You will die tomorrow!' And just his assertion will have so much will, it will go like a dagger and will kill the man. Or, he can be...

... soil and die, because they know it happens. So many trees are saying, so many flowers are declaring, "Don't be worried. Disappear into the soil and you will resurrect. This happened to us." WHILE THIS WORLD REMAINS, THAT ONE CANNOT BE; WHILST YOU EXIST, GOD CANNOT BE YOURS. You have to disappear like a seed into the soil. That disappearance looks like death - it is not. Only apparently do...

... the ugly world of history, of time, of events. It is not an event, it never happened - although it always happens. It is the essential truth of every seeker's life. Every seeker has to die on the cross, and after three days - those three days are of waiting, symbolically of waiting - the spring can come and the resurrection. THE COMING OF DEATH IS THE KEY WHICH UNLOCKS THE UNKNOWN DOMAIN... Only by...

...The Death of the Seed...

... Osho Unio Mystica Volume 2: The Death of the Seed Main Books Headers Help Your browser does not support iframes. < Prev  Osho Unio Mystica Volume 2   Next > The Death of the Seed From: Osho Date: Fri, 13 December 1978 00:00:00 GMT Book Title: Osho - Sufis - Unio Mystica, Vol 2 Chapter #: 3 Location: am in Buddha Hall Archive Code: N.A. Short Title: N.A. Audio Available: N.A...

... STATE, LOVE SEIZES THE REINS. WHILE THIS WORLD REMAINS, THAT ONE CANNOT BE; WHILST YOU EXIST, GOD CANNOT BE YOURS. THE COMING OF DEATH IS THE KEY WHICH UNLOCKS THE UNKNOWN DOMAIN; BUT FOR DEATH, THE DOOR OF TRUE FAITH WOULD REMAIN UNOPENED. IF YOU YOURSELF ARE UPSIDE DOWN IN REALITY, THEN YOUR WISDOM AND FAITH ARE BOUND TO BE TOPSY-TURVY. STOP WEAVING A NET ABOUT YOURSELF: BURST LIKE A LION FROM THE...

... doing the same act again and again, playing the same tape again and again, for years, and it will not die. Three yogis are sitting in a cave meditating. A horse comes by, looks in, and goes. A few years pass and one of the yogis says, "A horse came in." A few more years pass and another says, "No, it was a mare." After a few more years the third says, "If there is going to be...

..., you simply jump out of the way of the snake. It is not that you have done it - action has happened, but it is natural. You did not think about it, you didn't ponder over it. You were not ready for it; you may not have come across a snake ever before in your life. You had not practised it, it is not a program in your mind. You responded. In the form of the snake, there was death. You responded...

... - immediately, instantly. The mind never came in, because the mind needs time to ponder, to think, to contemplate. And there is no time, death is so close by: you simply jumped. Sitting underneath a tree when the snake has passed, you may think about it; now you have enough time to think. But in that moment, in that momentous moment when the snake was facing you, you simply acted - not out of the mind but out...

... all that can be taken by others. Now he exists as a naked being, his own self, which not even death can take away. Fire cannot burn it, no sword can cut it. All that can be taken by others has already been dropped by him. Now people can laugh: he can watch. He can watch unperturbed undisturbed. When Mansoor was killed, he looked at the sky and laughed loudly. Thousands of people had gathered to...

... into your heart as deeply as possible, that whatsoever you are doing is futile. Money is not going to help, fame is not going to help, power is not going to help. Death will come and all will be snatched away from you. And what does it matter how much money you have got? The only real thing in the world is how much being you have got. Having is the fallen state: being is Christ risen, resurrected...

... shaky: all that you had is disappearing down the drain, and nothing else has happened. The mind will say, "Rush and catch hold of the disappearing dreams." Nothingness frightens, nothingness looks like death. You will need somebody to give you the feeling that "Don't be worried, it is perfectly all right, this is how it happens. This is how it happened to me too. Just a little more...

... your ego will disappear. And, slowly slowly, you will find a nothingness: you were looking for God, you were looking for truth. You were looking for something immortal, deathless - and instead of deathlessness happening, death is happening. There is every possibility that if you are alone, you will rush away. A master is needed. And all the great masters have created Buddhafields. If a field can be...

... you die: in fact you are born for the first time. It is resurrection, it is rebirth, you become twice-born. And for the first time you know something of the immortal. You are carrying it in a seed form, and you can know it only when it becomes a flower, when it becomes a fragrance. The seed is gross; the seed is only the potential. Unless it becomes actual, you will not be able to see it; it will...

... in the seed. Those two green leaves... and the tree has started growing. THE COMING OF DEATH IS THE KEY WHICH UNLOCKS THE UNKNOWN DOMAIN; BUT FOR DEATH, THE DOOR OF TRUE FAITH WOULD REMAIN UNOPENED. So don't be afraid of this death that the seed has to face. Every disciple has to face it. THE COMING OF DEATH... So when death starts coming to you, don't be afraid. It is the beginning of a new life...

... dying does the seed unlock the door and the tree starts growing. Only by dying as Adam do you unlock the door of Christ-consciousness in you. Only by dying as a mind do you unlock the door of being. THE COMING OF DEATH IS THE KEY WHICH UNLOCKS THE UNKNOWN DOMAIN; BUT FOR DEATH, THE DOOR OF TRUE FAITH WOULD REMAIN UNOPENED. So death is also beautiful. And remember, we are not talking of physical death...

... at all: we are talking of psychological death. We are talking of the death of the ego, of egoing. IF YOU YOURSELF ARE UPSIDE DOWN IN REALITY, THEN YOUR WISDOM AND FAITH ARE BOUND TO BE TOPSY-TURVY. And this is how we are. Being has been forgotten - which we are. And we have become identified with the mind - which we are not. This is the topsy-turvy state: the real is forgotten, and the unreal is...

... people use a hundred percent of their intelligence, this earth will become unique, this earth will be a paradise. There will be no need to think of a paradise after death, the paradise will be herenow. It is possible - God has given you the potential. But the politicians and the priests have not allowed you to use it, and your so-called priests are all against it. If you can find a man who helps you to...

... you feel that God has created you as a unique being. He has never created anybody like you, and he will never create anybody like you again. You are unique, you are incomparable. Feel this gift, this grace, and respect yourself. The man who respects himself is authentic. He cannot compromise: he would prefer to die but stick to his truth. And that is the price God asks for. Risk all that you have...

... am a teacher of life, not of death; but I can teach you only if you are ready even to die for life. Already you are so dead, and still you believe through your whole life that you are alive. But this life is lukewarm. Hence in the meditation I try to help you, to push you deeper into death because as far as I am concerned death is a fiction. The whole intention is that as you try to be more and...

...; AFTER KOKUSHI'S DEATH, THE EMPEROR SENT FOR TANGEN AND ASKED HIM ABOUT IT. TANGEN SAID, "SOUTH OF SHO AND NORTH OF TAN, IN BETWEEN, GOLD ABOUNDS. THE FERRYBOAT UNDER THE SHADOWLESS TREE, NO HOLY ONE IN THE EMERALD PALACE YOU SEE." Maneesha, this evening and this silence, this great assembly of people who love is really the answer to the anecdote you have asked about. That's what the emperor...

... WHEN HE DIES AND TRANSMIGRATES?" In the first place it is a stupid question because a man of enlightenment never dies, never transmigrates either. Transmigration is for the ignorant, from one form into another form, from one animalhood to another animalhood. But for the awakened, for the enlightened there is no death and no transmigration. He simply defuses into the wholeness of the cosmos. He...

...; SAID KOKUSHI, "WHO HAD THE DHARMA SEAL TRANSMITTED BY ME. HE IS WELL VERSED IN THIS MATTER. ASK HIM, PLEASE." The emperor has not understood the master because the master will not descend from his silence. He sends him to a disciple. AFTER KOKUSHI'S DEATH, THE EMPEROR SENT FOR TANGEN AND ASKED HIM ABOUT IT. TANGEN SAID, "SOUTH OF SHO AND NORTH OF TAN, IN BETWEEN, GOLD ABOUNDS."...

.... But you should not miss. Do you understand? In this silence is the whole secret. Question 1: Maneesha has asked: BELOVED OSHO, WHENEVER I TRY TO DIE EACH NIGHT - TO CLOSE DOWN MY SENSES AND BE DEAD - I ONLY FEEL LIFE TRYING TO ASSERT ITSELF MORE VIGOROUSLY. AM I DOING IT WRONGLY OR IS THAT WHAT IS MEANT TO HAPPEN? OR ARE THERE NO "MEANT TO HAPPENS" HERE? Maneesha, it is meant to happen. I...

... more dead, you will find life asserting itself. It is a very deep dialectical process. The more you try to die, the more you will find yourself fresh and young and newly born. I teach resurrection. Jesus should not have the monopoly of being resurrected, it is everybody's right. You don't have to hang on a cross, you can simply die here. You can just leave the body and go in, fearlessly, because...

... death. This silence is so precious that even the bamboos are not making commentaries today. But I will still give them a little chance to laugh. Laughter dignifies you because no animal laughs. Laughter proves life because dead men don't laugh. Little Muni Bramachappati, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rama Bramachappati, a fifteen-year- old child, is suddenly awakened by deep moaning and groaning...

... prayerful hearts - desire it, passionately desire it, then the soul that has disappeared into the cosmic soul can again become manifest in millions of ways. No true master ever dies, he cannot die. Death does not appear for the masters, does not exist for them. Hence they are masters. They have known the eternity of life. They have seen that the body disappears but that the body is not all: the body is...

... only the periphery, the body is only the garments. The body is the house, the abode, but the guest never disappears. The guest only moves from one abode to another. One day, ultimately, the guest starts living under the sky, with no shelter...but the guest continues. Only bodies, houses, come and go, are born and then die. But there is an inner continuum, an inner continuity - that is eternal...

... felt it as a very frightening phenomenon, as if death is knocking on the door. A few have felt it as a great confusion. A few have felt shocked, utterly shocked. But everybody has been touched in some way or other. Only the newcomers were a little at a loss - they could not comprehend what was going on. But I feel thankful to them too. Although they could not understand what was going on, they waited...

... happens rightly. The wrong never happens. It may appear wrong to you because you have a certain idea of what right is, but when you look without any prejudice, nothing is wrong, all is right. Birth is right, death is right. Beauty is right and ugliness is right. But our minds are small, our comprehension is limited; we cannot see the whole, we always see only a small part. We are like a person who is...

... consciousness. And if you are awake, strong, and humble, this gives you a mastery over yourself. IF A MAN'S THOUGHTS ARE MUDDY, IF HE IS RECKLESS AND FULL OF DECEIT, HOW CAN HE WEAR THE YELLOW ROBE? Buddha chose for his sannyasins the yellow robe, just as I have chosen the orange. That is the difference between my approach and the Buddha's approach. Yellow represents death - the yellow leaf. Yellow represents...

... the setting sun, the evening. Buddha emphasized death too much - that's a way. If you emphasize death too much, it helps: people become more and more aware of life in contrast to death. And when you emphasize death again and again and again, you help people to awaken. They have to be awake because death is coming. Whenever a new sannyasin would be initiated by Buddha, he would tell him, "Go to...

... the cemetery - and just be there and go on watching funeral pyres, dead bodies being carried, burned...go on watching. And go on remembering this is going to happen to you too. Three months' meditation on death, then come back." That was the beginning of sannyas. There are only two possible ways. One is, emphasize death; the other is, emphasize life. Because these are the only two things in...

... existence - life and death. Buddha chose death as a symbol; hence the yellow robe. The orange represents life; it is the color of blood. It represents the morning sun, the early dawn, the eastern sky becoming red. My emphasis is on life. But the purpose is the same. I want you to be so passionately in love with life that your very passion for life makes you aware, your very intensity to live it makes you...

... awake. And death is in the future, and life is now, so if you think of death you will be thinking of the future. If you think of death it will be an inference: you will see somebody else dying, you will never see yourself dying. You can imagine, you can infer, you can think, but this will be a thinking. Life need not be thought, it can be lived. It can help you to be mindless more than death can...

..., you can feel the beat of it. But both methods can be used: death can be used for you to become a meditator, or life can be used - my choice is life. And I emphasize and repeat that my choice is far better than Buddha's. Buddha's choice of death as a symbol helped this whole country to become dead, dull, insipid. My choice of life as the symbol can revive this country - not only this country but the...

... whole world - because it is not only the Buddha who has chosen death as a symbol, Christianity has also chosen death as a symbol - the cross. So the two greatest religions of the world, Christianity and Buddhism, are death-oriented. And because of these two religions.... And their impact has been the greatest: Christianity has transformed the whole West, and Buddhism has transformed the whole East...

.... Jesus and Buddha have been the two greatest teachers, but the choice of death as a symbol has been dangerous, has been a calamity. I choose life. I would like this whole earth to be full of life, more and more life, pulsating life. But what Buddha says about his yellow robe I would also say about my orange robe. He says: IF A MAN'S THOUGHTS ARE MUDDY, IF HE IS RECKLESS AND FULL OF DECEIT, HOW CAN HE...

... reborn out of the ashes -- resurrection. The phoenix represents Christ: crucifixion and resurrection. The phoenix represents Buddha: death as an ego, and a new birth as utter egolessness. It represents all those who have known; to know means to be a phoenix. Die as you are, so that you can be that which you really are! Die in all your inauthenticity, phoniness, separation from existence. We go on...

... is the whole claiming the part back. And you are afraid that death will come and you will die. How to live long? How to attain a kind of deathlessness? Man tries it in many ways. To have children is one of the ways, hence the continuous urge to have children. The root of this desire to have children has nothing to do with children at all, it has something to do with death. You know you will not be...

... the ages, somehow to have some kind of immortality. The fear of death is so much, it haunts you your whole life. The moment you drop the idea of separation, the fear of death disappears. Hence I call this state of surrender the most paradoxical. You die of your own accord and then you cannot die at all, because the whole never dies, only its parts are being replaced. But if you become one with the...

... whole, you will live forever: you will go beyond birth and death. That's the search for nirvana, enlightenment, moksha, the kingdom of God -- the state of deathlessness. But the condition that has to be fulfilled is very frightening. The condition is: first you have to die as a separate entity. That's what surrender is all about: dying as a separate entity, dying as an ego. And in fact it is nothing...

... you constantly have to fight the whole so that it does not absorb you. You have to be constantly alert, on guard, so the ocean does not simply take you in. You have to protect yourself behind walls and walls and walls. All this effort is nothing but fear. And then you are constantly aware that death is reaching you and death is going to destroy your separation. That's what death is all about: death...

... immortal. Now science is finding far more sophisticated ways -- because your child may look a little bit like you, or may not look like you at all, and he will only be just a little bit like you; there is no intrinsic necessity for him to appear exactly like you. So now science has found ways to duplicate you. Some of your cells can be preserved, and when you die, a duplicate can be created out of those...

... cells. And the duplicate will be exactly like you; not even twins are so alike. If you meet your duplicate you will be surprised: he will be exactly like you, absolutely like you. Now they say that to be safer, a duplicate can be created while you are alive, and the duplicate can be kept in deep freeze, so if some accident happens, if you die in a car accident, you can be immediately replaced. Your...

.... If you think they are real, they function for you as reality -- only for you. It is a dream reality, but it can affect you, it can affect your whole life, your whole lifestyle. The ego is not there. The moment you become a little alert, aware, conscious, you will not find the ego at all. It will be a rope that you had misconceived as a snake; you will not find the snake anywhere. Death does not...

... exist, death is unreal. But you create it: you create it by creating separation. Surrender means dropping the idea of separation: death disappears automatically, fear is found no more, and your whole flavor of life changes. Then each moment is such crystal purity, a purity of delight, joy, bliss. Then each moment is eternity. And to live that way is poetry, to live moment-to-moment without the ego is...

... not. The body has limits, is born and will die; you are never born and you will never die. This becomes your own experience, not a belief. Belief is fear-oriented. You would like to believe that you are immortal, but belief is just a belief, something pseudo, painted from the outside. Experience is totally different: it wells up within you, it is your own. And the moment you know, nothing can ever...

.... You have to be absent for him to become a presence in you. Die, so that you can be. The second question: BELOVED OSHO, UTTER CONFUSION IS MY PART. GOOD AND BAD HAVE CEASED TO EXIST. I AM NEITHER PROUD NOR ASHAMED AND YET I AM BOTH. WHATEVER I HAVE ACHIEVED SEEMS LOST IN A FOG, RESOLVED TOGETHER WITH MY FAILURES. LIKE SMOKE I FEEL, BUT THROUGH THE SMOKE A TREMENDOUS SADNESS ARISES LIKE A SHARP ROCK...

... -- as you say, "I am utterly confused" -- if you are really confused, you are blessed. Now something is possible, something immensely valuable; you are on the verge. If you are utterly confused, that means the mind has failed; now the mind can no longer supply any certainty to you. You are coming closer and closer to the death of the mind. And that is the greatest thing that can happen to...

... contemplating. You will be always ready for the new to happen because it is happening every moment. God is never old. If God is old then some day he will have to die because oldness leads to death. The Brahman is always young, evergreen. Oldness is not known there, that is why there is no death to it. Existence is always green, alive, pulsating. With knowledge you become old. The moment you say, "I have...

... state - and desiring is the bondage. So when you desire moksha, liberation, you are still in bondage. He says this just to help you to drop all desiring so that you can be here and now. People go on coming to Buddha and they ask, "What will happen when we die?" Buddha says, "Nothing will happen. You will simply die." They are asking him to create a future even beyond death. They...

... are not satisfied; this much future is not enough. They want some more future beyond death so that they can project their minds more and then they can desire and they can plan what to do after death. They go on insisting. In every village where Buddha moves they go on insisting, "What will happen to an enlightened one, to YOU when you die?" Buddha says, "Nothing will happen. I will...

... away so that you are open again to know anew. You must die to the past; only then can you be alive to the present. We all live in the past - that which is no more, that which has gone, that which is dead. We live in that past; that is why we are so dead. Life is always in the present and mind is always in the past; that is why mind cannot know life. There can be no meeting ground. There is no common...

... is the basic renunciation. Die to the past so that you can be alive in the present. You cannot do both. If you are alive in the past, then you will be dead in the present. If you want to be alive in the present, be dead to the past. Each moment go on throwing the past dust. Do not allow it to gather. Go on renouncing it, go on throwing it. It is of no use. You have already used it, now it is just a...

... he would die. So the fisherman said to Jesus, "Jesus, allow me a few days so that I can go back and pay my respects to the old man who is dead and do all that is needed and expected from a son." Jesus said, "You need not go. The dead will bury the dead." To Jesus the whole village was dead. So he said, "They will bury the dead; you need not worry about it." Why did...

... simply die. As the flame of a lamp ceases to be, I will cease." They are not satisfied; they feel uneasy. They say, "But where will the flame go? Will it meet the Brahman? Will it become cosmic? What will happen to the enlightened soul?" Buddha is hard. He says, "Nothing. Just a flame is put out. Do you ask where the flame has gone? No one asks where the flame has gone because...

... become prone to death, because you cling to the dead - the dead past. If you do not cling to the past there is no death for you, it cannot happen. The body will disappear but that is not death. It becomes a death because you have become too much obsessed with the body - because you have lived in the body in the past. One person has lived a hundred years in his body. In that hundred years' experience of...

... living in the body he has become obsessed with the body. Now he thinks that he is the body. This hundred years of routine, habit, has created this false notion that he is the body. That is why he feels that death is coming. Children are less afraid of death than old men. Why? - because they are still new to the body. It has not become their experience and knowledge. They are fresh. Children can play...

... with snakes without any fear. They can play with poison, they can move in any danger. They are not afraid. Why? - because they are still fresh to this new abode. They are not clinging to it too much. It has not yet become a past. But sooner or later, when they have lived in it for many years, they will cling to it. Then they will be afraid. Then they will become afraid of death because in death the...

... body will die and they have come to feel that they are the body. A person who lives moment to moment, who goes on dying to the past, is never attached to anything. Attachment comes from the accumulated past. If you can be unattached to the past every moment, then you are always fresh, young, just born. You pulsate with life and that pulsation gives you immortality. You are immortal, only unaware of...

... the fact. INDEED, HE ATTAINS IMMORTALITY WHO REALIZES IT IN AND THROUGH EVERY BODH. THROUGH THE ATMAN HE OBTAINS STRENGTH AND VIGOR, AND THROUGH ITS KNOWLEDGE, IMMORTALITY. The more you know life, the inner life, the atman, then the more you know that you are immortal. There is not going to be any death: you are deathless. FOR ONE WHO REALIZES IT HERE, IN THIS WORLD, THERE IS TRUE LIFE. So do not...

... hanker after any other life; do not hanker for something to happen after death. If it cannot happen here it will not happen ever. If it can happen it can happen here and now. This earth, this life is the present. Do not condemn it for another life. There is no other life. Life is always HERE; life is always in this moment. Do not postpone it because through postponing you may miss the opportunity. FOR...

... ONE WHO REALIZES IT HERE THERE IS TRUE LIFE. FOR ONE WHO DOES NOT SO REALIZE IT, GREAT IS THE LOSS. DISCOVERING THE ATMAN IN EVERY SINGLE BEING, THE WISE ONES, DYING TO THIS WORLD OF SENSE-EXPERIENCE, BECOME IMMORTAL. Go on dying to the past, and you will not have any world around you with which you are attached, obsessed. Dying to the past, you die to this world. Remember, this world is created...

... the knack of watching you will start growing up higher every moment towards the ultimate experience - of knowing oneself, realizing the nature of your consciousness ... because that opens the door of immortality. A meditator slowly slips from the world of mortality into the world of immortality. On this side, the world of doings, there is death. On the other side, in the dimension of happenings...

..., there is no death. And unless you experience a clear vision of deathlessness, you will remain miserable, you will remain in despair. And because you live in the world of doings, that is the only art you know - and that art is preventing you from entering into a different dimension. So you have to learn sometimes just to be a child, playing, jumping, dancing, singing, for no purpose at all. Once in a...

... the world, that the man had come to the peak, and now there was nothing that could be added to the art. Then the man became old, as everybody has to become old, and he became afraid of death. As oldness started settling he started thinking what to do about death. Being a sculptor this idea came to his mind easily: "I can make a statue of myself." And he had a beautiful round hall where...

... hundreds of statues were standing and sitting. So he thought, "When death comes I will be standing somewhere inside the crowd of my statues; only I have to keep my breathing as slow as possible." And that was possible, because people used to say that his statues seemed as if they were breathing. They were so alive that they would do something, they could not remain standing forever in that way...

.... Death came and was puzzled. The sculptor had made a few statues of himself and placed them among other statues. Death could not believe that ... she went around watching, looking, trying to find some sign but she failed. She said, "My God! He has done only one thing wrong..." And the artist forgot completely the situation and the scene and said, "What?" Death said, ?You cannot...

... forget yourself. And that I could see even by your nose, but I did not disturb you. I simply went on looking around. I wanted to see whether you could remain silent. That would have been really going beyond death - but you could not forget your ego and you were feeling more and more satisfied. The more I was going ahead, looking like a failure ... I was seeing from the corner of my eye that you were...

... looking more and more successful, certain that you had defeated death. I can be defeated but not by the ego." The egoless has no death to encounter. You are born - have you done anything? can you take any credit for being born? for having two eyes and not three? for having eyes at all? Otherwise the world would be dark - no colors, no light, no beauty. But all these things have happened to you...

.... Birth happens to you, youth happens to you, love happens to you, old age happens to you, death happens to you - whatever is essential happens to you and whatever is non-essential is left for you to do. So don't waste your whole life in the non-essential. That non-essential is also needed but remember that the essential has not to be forgotten. And you have not to do anything for it. You have just to...

... scriptures you are going against your nature, against life itself. So there is not going to be any fulfillment, there is not going to be any joy; there is going to be only darkness, misery. Slowly, slowly you start feeling a kind of death happening to you, because life is not being allowed to live in its totality. Death is bound to fill the gaps where life has not been allowed to blossom. And every man is...

... called him and said, "It is enough, because now I cannot wait; I am going to die tomorrow. Now you decide." Under such compulsion - it was almost blackmail - he got initiated, renounced the world. But that does not make any difference. The greed is inside you, not in the things. So now it became attached to new things. He started collecting other things, with new names. He started collecting...

... AN END, A DEATH, A KIND OF SUICIDE WHERE A COMEBACK IS NEVER POSSIBLE - NO MORE ADVENTURES, NO LOVERS, NO SUNSETS, NO DRAMAS, NO CANDLELIGHT DINNERS. WHAT CAN BE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THE SENSELESS DRAMAS AND JOYS OF ALL MY SEARCHINGS? HOW IS IT AFTER DEATH FOR AN ENLIGHTENED MAN? IS IT NOT BORING FOR THE NEXT TEN THOUSAND YEARS? I FEEL SIMPLY A DEATH-FEAR. Enlightenment can be a very scary thing. It...

... of to C. One lives in this country, is born into another ... but goes through the same routine. The same misery will come, the same jealousy will come; all the games of ambition that people go on playing will be there - but you are not bored. You are not bored because each time you die your memory closes a door; otherwise you will go mad. Nature has an autonomous system: the moment a person dies...

... were only two million people in the time of Buddha. Now there are nine hundred million people in India. Just looking at the proportion, at least a dozen Buddhas are absolutely needed! But that kind of person has disappeared - and he has disappeared because what you call life he has found to be nothing but slow death. And he has found the real life. Once a person finds the real life, why he should...

... energy. He risks everything because death is so close. Now he cannot be moderate. Before a candle dies, the flame of the candle burns the brightest. It is a natural phenomenon. You are asking me, "Why it is happening?" It is happening because man is at the very door where either he has to die or to transform. You will see this resurgence all over the world. But this is a resurgence that...

... can make a difference in the quality of your death, it indicates that you have not been able to make a qualitative difference in your life either. Death is only a conclusion; it concludes your whole life, and if you have to die like a beggar then I can say to you that you have lived like a beggar. You may have lived in the palaces; but that does not make any difference." He said, "I have...

... politics or in religion remain silent when they are certain that nothing is going to overthrow them. But when they see the danger, they collect all their energies to prevent any rebellion, any change, any transformation; so it is a good sign. It is just like, at the time of death it happens always that the person simply becomes perfectly healthy. All diseases disappear. It is the last effort of his life...

... certifies the victory of the revolution. The old society is at the point of death. Before dying it will make its last effort to survive. But a last effort is a last effort. It cannot survive. And you are asking me how I see it in reference to my ideology. I rejoice, because I can see the death, and I can see the conservative forces resurging with great energy. To me, it is a rejoicing, a moment of...

..., but still inside you remain empty. In fact, when you have all the things in contrast you see your emptiness more clearly. And you see that death is approaching, and you are still collecting seashells on the seashore. And death will snatch away everything from you, and you will be dying just like any beggar. There will not be any difference in your death and in the death of a beggar. And unless you...

... no meaning, that it is an accident, that there is no way to make any meaning out of it, that you can go on playing with things just to avoid boredom. Otherwise you are going to commit suicide. Because there is nothing else to do. It is all repetition. The same thing you have been doing your whole life. And you will continue to do it till you die. And strange that even people don't want to die. I...

... death has come and you need not commit suicide, that death is a deliverance. I don't see any point. What you will do?" He was angry at me. He said, "I have asked you to do something, to meditate for me. I am dying, and you are talking strange things." I said, "I am not going to meditate for your life; because what you will do tomorrow? You will repeat your yesterday. But you have...

... remain our future too? Or we are going to have a new future, a clean slate, to write our history from the very scratch. It is tremendously decisive and I don't see that the old order can win against the rising sun. It has to give way. That is the nature of things. The old has to die for the young to live; they have to vacate the place, howsoever resistant they may be and however long they may have...

.... Gracefully, let me reach to the graveyard and don't waste anything, and don't do such an ugly thing calling a municipal corporation truck. And the fourth has not still spoken. Perhaps he may like to drag me just down the road? Just find out the shoes because I am finishing every moment. Let me die gracefully." The only man has only one choice; either he dies gracefully or he will force the new man to...

... oxygen is removed from the air you will die immediately, with all your independence in your pocket. You are thirsty, you have to drink. You cannot say that I am an independent man; I cannot drink water; I will remain, I will exist without water. Life is interdependent. We are all joined together; we are not islands. We are a whole continent. I teach independence just as an arbitrary device to destroy...

... six thousand miles per second; multiplied by sixty, that will be one minute travel; multiplied by ten that will be ten minutes' distance. So many miles! But we live on it; our bodies are warm because of the sun. Otherwise you will simply go cold. Scientists are worried that one day the sun is going to die, because it is for millions of years radiating heat. It does not have an inexhaustible source...

.... Endurance, nityata, eternity, is the criterion of truth - remember this well. What is truth? That which endures, and endures infinitely. What is a dream? That which begins and comes to an end; that which cannot endure forever. So look to that pearl which nobody can snatch from you, not even death. In death the body will die, in death the thoughts will disappear; but you? - you will go on and on and on...

.... Death happens near you, but never to you. It happens in the neighborhood, but never at the center; it happens at the circumference. You have never died, you cannot die. Mountains disappear, clouds come and go, but the sky remains the same. And you are the sky. The nature of the self is just like space: empty, infinitely empty, formless. Everything happens within it, nothing happens to it. This is what...

... making enough effort. If you are not reaching, you are not running fast enough." And if you listen to the logic of the mind - which looks logical but it is not - then you will go on running and running and running, and in the end there will be nothing except death. The many is the realm of death, the one is the realm of the deathless. The seeker has to be sought, not in outside objects but in your...

... on feeling empty, there is nothing. So with outside things you can at the most deceive others, not yourself. How can you deceive yourself? The more things accumulate, the more life is wasted because they have to be purchased at the cost of life. You are less alive, death has come near, things are growing more and more, the pile goes on becoming bigger and bigger, and inside you are shrinking. Then...

... age, that sadness is because now you realize what you have done to yourself: you have made a house, of course you have succeeded, you are rich, you have attained prestige in the eyes of others - but what about your own eyes? Now you feel the pain, the suffering of a wasted life, of time lost. Death is coming nearer and soon you will dissolve with your hands empty. This emptiness is inner; you cannot...

..., when you sleep, either you are unconscious when there is deep sleep, or you are again engaged with others in your dreams. Continuously living with the other is the problem: you are born into a society, you live in a society, you die in a society - your whole existence consists of the social. And society means eyes all around. Whatsoever those eyes reflect, they impress you. If everybody says you are...

..., not the many. When death comes and your ship sinks, if you have one pearl you will be able to carry it to the other shore; but if you have many, many things, you will not be able to carry them. A pearl can be carried, but how can you carry much merchandise? Jesus says: THE KINGDOM OF THE FATHER IS LIKE A MAN, A MERCHANT, WHO POSSESSED MERCHANDISE AND FOUND A PEARL. THE MERCHANT WAS PRUDENT.... He...

... city which is a cemetery because people are standing in the queue just to die. "Somebody's time has come today, somebody else's will be coming tomorrow, somebody else's the day after tomorrow - but everybody is waiting just to die! And you call it 'basti'? You call it the place where people reside? I call it marghat, the cemetery, where people are simply waiting to die, where nothing exists...

... except death." If life exists, it is nothing but a waiting for death, and how can life be a waiting for death? How can life be momentary? How can life be just like a dream? It is there - and it is gone and not there. Life must be something eternal. But if you are looking for the eternal, then be like the prudent merchant: sell all that you have got. Sell it and purchase the one, the one pearl of...

... endure forever; they also become old, they also die; even continents have disappeared. The Himalayas were not there in the days of the Vedas, because the original Rigveda never talks about them. It is impossible not to talk about the Himalayas if they are there - impossible! How can you neglect the Himalayas? And the Vedas go on talking about other things, but they never talk about the Himalayas...

... young, old; they die, they are born. Nothing is permanent in the outside world. Look at the trees, at the rivers, at the mountains: they give the feeling that everything is permanent, but look a little deeper and the feeling disappears. Then go within and look at your thoughts - they are even more temporary. They continuously go on moving, not a single thought stays: a moment ago you were angry and...