... after dying myself. For finding an entry in true life one has to die in the false life. To gain existence in the supreme, one has to loose the atom. But what is death on one side becomes life on the other. Death of ego is the life of the soul. That is not destruction. That is existence. Those who cannot understand this truth remain devoid of life. Friend, the ocean is not the life of river; it is its...

... death? And how can there be fear from death whom man does not even know? There could be fear of the known alone. Why should there be fear from the unknown? There can only be a desire to know that. The old man would start weeping before whosoever went to see him. There was complaint after complaint. Complaint does not die even up to the moment of death. Perhaps it keeps company even after death. He had...

... exist. Pride creates walls in life. Then for the entry and exit of the self it has to keep at least one door; this is the door of death. The house of pride cannot remain free from death. One door always remains in it; that itself is the said door. Even if it does not leave that one door, then too it will die. That will be suicide. But there is life without pride also. That life is immortal; because it...

... end, and his tears gave the news that he was melting. He was weeping and his entire body was trembling. The currents of what was weeping in his heart were touching the threads of his body. He kept on weeping, weeping, weeping; and then said: "I want to die. I am extremely poor and disappointed. I have absolutely nothing with me". I remained silent for sometime more and then slowly told him...

... a story. I said "Friend, I am reminded of a story, A young man told a beggar: 'God has taken away everything from me. I have no other course except death'." Are you not the same young man? That beggar told the young man: "I see a big hidden treasure with you. Will you sell it? If you sell it. you will gain everything and God will also be saved from bad name". Are you or are you...

... wealth even in that cannot find it any where else." The night was past its middle. I got up and I told that young man: "Go and go to sleep; and tomorrow wake up a different man. Life is as we make it. That is man's own creation. We can make it dead or eternal as we like; and this depends on no one else except our own selves. Then, death will follow on its own. There is no need to invite it...

.... One was filled with pride, the other with remorse. Pride was giving pleasure and remorse was pricking the soul. As the death appeared nearer to the king, he was holding faster to his pride. He had something to hold. But the remorse of the rich man at last became a revolution in him. It could not be his support. It was necessary to give it up. But let us remember that remorse is also the reverse side...

..., this has never been more than a game for their pleasure. But the fear supported God, has killed the man outright. His game has been very costly. Life has got entangled in the nets of fear, and how could pleasure be there where there was fear and fear alone? How could love be there? How could peace be there? How could truth be there? Pleasure is the offshoot of fearlessness. Fear is death...

..., there is no end to them. They have a beginning, but no end. But when a person gets bored with worldly ambitions, or when his death comes near, then the so-called religious ambitions start. They are also illusory. Their intoxication is deeper; because their attainment is not apparent; he fear of their getting broken is also less. As long as a person tries to keep separate from the reality of self, he...

... attention. In my opinion, an unavoidable symptom of mental health is an ambition-free life. Ambition is a disease and, therefore, it is destructive. Diseases are always fellow-travellers of death. Ambition is destruction. It is violence. It is hatred coming from a diseased mind; it is jealousy. It is a chronic struggle between man and man. It is war. Even the ambition for salvation is destructive. That is...

... yours? The enemy confronted me, and leaving me in the lurch you came away! Was it not like leaving me in the jaws of death?" Mohammed. said: "Dear one, that man was undoubtedly very violent and cruel and his words were also full of high anger. But I was very happy I saw you in peace and love. At that time, I saw that ten bodyguards sent by God were defending you and his good wishes were...

.... As death started approaching and the harvest time of life came near, he became restless. But he was not prepared to accept anything except the highest, internally faultless and the complete religion. He was adamant; and until perfect religion was clear to him he was determined not to move even one step of life towards it. Years after years went by, and on his own he was getting himself deeper in...

... the mud. At last, his death came close at doors. One day a young beggar came to his door and asked for alms, and finding the king extremely worried, depressed and perturbed, asked him the reason. The king told him: "What could you do even after knowing it? The big, big scholars, saints and mendicants have not been able to help me". That beggar said: "It is possible that their bigness...

... relieved and free from fear. In fact a thorough search of ghosts and their abodes only leads to freedom from them. 'I produces pain, brings torture, gives birth to worries and produces unsafety and fear of death. Therefore, to find an escape from it, the idea of 'surrender' to God is invented. It is out of its fear that God and its devotion get born; while 'I' does not exist at all. So long as we do not...

... convenient for the mind and in this lies its safety. With the change of clothes, mind does not die; on the other hand, in new clothes instead of the old and worn out, it attains a longer life. With the change of clothes there is no change in the self; on the other hand, there is satisfaction of the self; and self-satisfaction is suicide. " That woman asked: "Which clothes?" I said: "...

... it. He lighted fire and became ready to give up his body. Whatever the cost, he must find peace. To attain it, he was determined to embrace even death. When the fire woods started burning fiercely he got ready to seek his father's permission to jump into it. But Brihaspati laughed stopped him and said: "Mad one, what will you gain by renouncing the body? As long as the mind is full of desires...

... mind itself, because any attempt of the mind ultimately strengthens and gives power to itself, and can do so. Any of its actions is a follow up and research of its own desire. As a result, it is only natural that with any of its actions it should itself be fed and become strong? Therefore, by an action of the mind itself, it is impossible to be free from it. How can mind become its own death? Even in...

.... Swimming against Him, a person only breaks and destroys himself. What is man's fear? What is his worry? What is his pain? What is his death? I have seen: all these troubles crop up in our vain attempt to swim against God. Pride is pain; pride is disease; because pride is in the direction opposite to God; and opposition to God is opposition of self. I have heard a story. A pilot of a small aeroplane was...

... birth?but not death, while birth and death are the two ends of the same event? Death is hidden in birth. Is not birth only the beginning of death? Thereafter from non-acceptance of death, fear; from fear the run. The frightened and the run-away mind becomes unable to understand death. But howsoever one may run it is impossible to run away from death. That has been presented in the birth itself. It is...

... not possible to run away from death; on the other hand, after running in all ways, at the end of it, it is discovered that only death has been reached. There is an old story. Vishnu came to Kailash to meet Shiva. His vehicle was Garud. After dismounting Vishnu, Garud was waiting at the gate. Just at this time his eyes fell on a pigeon, trembling with fear, and sitting at the top of the door. He...

... asked him about the cause of his fear. That pigeon started weeping and said: "Just recently the God of Death has entered his palace. On seeing me, he faltered, for a while, looked at me in surprise, and then, with a smile, went ahead moving about his club. His mysterious smile is nothing except an indication of my sure death. My end is near". And that pigeon started weeping all the more...

... being there". On receiving this solution the pigeon felt revived, and in an instant Garud reached him on a lonely hill where he could move about without any enemy. But as soon as the Garud returned he met the God of Death who was coming out of the gate. The garud smiled and said: "Sir, That pigeon is no more here. He is living without fear on the Lokalok hill which is thousands of millions...

... miles away. I have just returned after leaving him there." On hearing this the God of Death laughed loudly and said: "So you have ultimately reached him there? I was surprised only to think how he was here? He had to go into the mouth of Death within a few moments on the lokalok hill. 31. A young man came. He was in readiness to renounce the world. Very soon after getting ready in all...

... and heaven, is within ourselves and whatever is within us is thrown out on the outside screen. It is the eyes of man which do not see any thing other than death among the things of this world; it is again the eyes of man which can observe the eternal beauty and music of God in this universe. Therefore, what appears outside is not the eternal and the basic in life; but it is what is inside. Those who...

... in the neighbourhood. Every body was busy talking about it. There was sensation in the air and the eyes of men which were normally lustreless, were shining at that time. Neither any one had pain nor sympathy; only a diseased and undesirable feeling was visible. Can death and murder also give pleasure? Can destruction also bring happiness? May be it is so. Otherwise, public mind could not be so much...

... for an opportunity to kill each other. Perhaps, they had no other ambition in life except this big work. Perhaps for the same reason the murderer rendered himself to the hands of law after committing the murder. What had he to do by living now? The one for whom he lived was no longer there! Is it not surprising that most of us live only for their enemies? Those who live and die for friends are very...

... few! Not love but hatred itself has become the basis of life: and then it should be only natural that one finds a hidden pleasure in death and our life should find a helpless anxiety and attraction for destruction. Individuals are not attracted without reason to violence, and nation to wars. What is this hatred? It is not a revenge on others for not being able to take one's own life to the summits...

... death of the friend? No? Then how could enmity be destroyed by ending the enemy? The friend and the enemy are seen outside; but the origin is within the self. Ganges of life is outside; but the Gangotri (the source of Ganges) is always within. I, for one, hear in every body the echo of myself. Whatever I am, is reflected in others. I am reminded of an incident: It was a new-moon night. A person...

... was a watchman. There was no way to return. Death was in front. There was no time even to think. In self-defence he fired a bullet. In a moment all was over. With the sound of the bullet the entire house resounded, and with the strike of the bullet something got broken and fell into pieces. What was this? The man who fired was stunned. There was nobody in front. There was the smoke of the bullet and...

... a mirror that had been crushed to pieces. The same thing is seen in life also. In our imagination for self-defence, we start fighting with the mirrors. Because there is fear inside, therefore the enemy starts appearing on the outside. Because death is inside, therefore the murderer starts fearing on the outside. But can enemies be finished by breaking the mirrors? The enemy can be destroyed in...

... friendship, and not in his death. Everything else, except love, is defeat. Enemy lives in the self, in hatred of the self, in fear of the self, in enmity and jealousy. But it starts appearing on the outside. Yellowness exists in the eyes of a jaundiced person; but he sees yellow in the whole world. What is the right thing to do in such diseases? Will it be right to eliminate the yellow colour from the...

... giving, it is essential to have something. What is service? Is love itself not service? And love is born only in that consciousness where 'I' has been buried. In the death of 'I', is the birth and life of love. From the funeral pyre of 'I', the seed of love germinates. Those who are full of 'I', are empty of love. 'I' is the centre of exploitation. Its service is also exploitation? Even in that, the...

... prostitute. As soon as they died the messenger of death came from above to take them. But thase messengers carried the prostitute to heaven and the Yogi to the hell! The yogi said: "Friends, undoubtedly there is some mistake. You are carrying the prostitute to the heaven and me to the hell? What is this injustice? What is this darkness?" Those messengers said: "No, gentleman; there is...

.... Finally, what were left was your personality, eaten up by ego, and hers free of it. At the time of death, you had pride and desire in you; in her mind, there was neither pride nor desire. Her mind was full of the light of God, love and prayer. The truth of life does not live in the external cover. Then what use it will be to change the exterior? Truth is very internal, internal to the extreme. To...

.... It is from that labour that the 'I' is destroyed and the truth is attained. 41. Pride makes the heart stonelike. It is the death of all that is true, good and beautiful in life. Therefore there is no other obstacle in our way to God except the pride. How will a stone-hearted person know love? And where there is no love, how could God be there? For love we require a simple and humble heart - simple...

... manifests itself. I call that very state as 'samadhi', that is meditation. 43. What shall I say about religion? Religion is the door to life through the process of death. One night I was on a boat. The boat was big and there were many friends in company. I asked them: "This river is flowing fast but where to?" Some one said: "Towards the ocean." Truly rivers run to the ocean. But is...

... not the running of rivers to the ocean going towards their own death? Rivers will after all get lost in the ocean. Perhaps for this very reason pools do not go towards the ocean. Which wise man ever tries to go towards his own death? For the same reason, the so-called wise also do not go towards religion. What is an ocean to a river is religion to a man Religion is to loose oneself completely in the...

... universe. That is a great death for the ego. Therefore, those who want to save themselves become the pools of pride and save themselves from merging into the ocean of God. The inevitable condition of merging with the ocean is to eliminate the self. But that death is not really a death, because compared to the life which is gained through that merger, the life that we know becomes death. I am saying so...

... death although that way it appears to be safe. And ocean is not the death of river; it is its life, although that way it appears to have destroyed it. One day Radha asked Krishna: "My lord, this flute is always on your lips. I am very jealous of it." This flute of bamboo gets so much of the nectar-like touch of your sweet lips that I am dying of jealousy. Why is it so close to you? Why is it...

... the music. The key to find the self is in ending the ego. What is religion? Religion is the door to life through the process of death. 44. Friend, It is worth considering whether religion exists or not. Religion is meaningful not when it is merely in thought but when it is the very life, then alone it is meaningful. There is lot of religion in thoughts. But where does that religion lift up? It only...

... man had very religious thoughts. For the protection of religion, he had at least one stick always in his hand; and when he was not actually uttering abuses, he was saying 'Ram, Ram' with his hand on his moustaches. He always used to say: "Death is better than disgrace." This was his life's principle. Written in a religious way on a piece of paper, he had this principle enclosed in a...

... of God. Otherwise, life is nothing but a protracted and slow death. Life becomes what we make it. Life is not found. It has to be won over. Life is a constant release of the self by the self. It is not a fate, it is construction. A lawyer angrily told a judge after his very long and boring argument: Sir, the jury is sleeping! " The judge said: "Friend; you yourself have put them to sleep...

... resulting from the wine of ambition can be broken up only by death. The afternoon of the monarchs life was over. Life was on the other side of the day. Death had started sending its messengers. Strength was going down every day and worries were increasing. His life was in danger. What a man sows in youth, he reaps its harvest in old age. The seeds of poison do not trouble you at the time of sowing; they...

...: "I am very much tired. Now I want rest. Is there any way?" Confucius told him: "Life and rest are two contradictory words. If you want life do not ask for rest. Rest is death." That person developed wrinkles of worry on his forehead and he asked: "Then shall I not get rest at anytime?" Confucius said. "You will find it; You will definitely find it"; and pointing...

... to the graveyard in front, he said: "Look at these graves. There is peace in them. There is rest in them". I agree with Confucius. Life and death are not separate. They are like the moving breaths of that which exists. Neither life is merely action nor death is merely rest. In fact he who being in life is not in rest cannot be in peace even after death. Does not the restlessness of the...

... day make restless also the sleep of the night? Will not the echoes of restlessness of the whole life cause pain after death? Death will be in that same pattern as the life. That is not opposed to life. It is only a complement of it. That there should be no inactivity in life is all right, because that is tantamount to being dead even when alive; but that life should be merely an action is also not...

... death also becomes salvation. 51. I went to a meeting. It was a meeting of the untouchables. The very conception of an untouchable fills my heart with tears. On reaching there also, I was very unhappy and sad. What is it that man has done with man? And persons erecting uncrossable walls between man and man are also called religious! What greater fall of religion could be than this? And if this is...

... your birth. You are a store-house of sins. " That untouchable prayed: "Then I will apply myself for purity. But I do not want to die without seeing God." And then for years that untouchable was untraceable. No one knew where he had gone away. People had almost forgotten him and then suddenly he came to the village one day. That temple was situated near the entrance of the village. The...

... the basis of irreligion. But how can religion become the basis of irreligion? Surely, that religion is not religion. what can be purchased with wealth is not religion. I have heard: one morning a rich man tapped at the doors of heaven. Chitragupta asked: "Brother, who are you?" 'I? Do you not know me? Has not the news of my death yet reached here?" Chitragupta asked: "What is it...

...-remorse. But he who can understand it in advance will not repent. Why do I want to deceive? Does not fear exist behind all deceptions? But does the main root of fear get destroyed by deceptions? On the contrary, those roots get buried on account of deception and they get down deeper. Thus they do not die; they become more lively and more powerful. For the same reason, still bigger deceptions have to be...

... was also with them. I was listening to them. The saint was explaining to the party: "As a man thinks towards the end of his life, so is the aftermath of his life. He who has taken care of the end has taken care of everything. At the time of death, God must be remembered. There have been sinners who remembered the name of God by mistake at the time of their end and they are enjoying the...

... pleasures of salvation today." The talk of the saint was producing the desired effect. These old persons were going on pilgrimage in their last moments and their hearts were overjoyed on hearing what they wished. Truly, the question was not of life, but of death; and to get rid of the sins of life it was enough to remember the name of God even if it were by mistake. In their case, it was not by...

... death. What is death? Is it not the fulfilment of life itself? How can it be in opposition to life? That is only a development of it. That is only the fruit of life. All the imaginary thoughts - such as the story of the sinner Ajamil who at the time of death called for his son Narain and therefore by uttering the name of God by mistake became free of all sins and attained salvation- will not work...

... calling his son Narain. The greater possibility is that finding the end of his life so close, he wanted to explain some unfinished plan of his life to him. In the last moments, only the essence of one's own life comes before one's own consciousness, and that is the only thing that can come. Then I also narrated an incident to them. An old shopkeeper lay on his death-bed. Around his bed sat the members...

.... In between, he would also get fainted. He had not got out of the bed for several years. There was pain and pain. But even in that condition he wanted to live. Death was not acceptable to him even now. Even though the life be the death incarnate, no one ever wants death. Why is the love of life so blind and so imperfect? How much does this desire to live force you to tolerate? What is this fear of...

..., he uttered: "Even death does not come to my rescue to save me from the painful life in this old age." But as soon as these words came out, he felt some one standing behind him. Some invisible and very cold hand was also on his shoulder. His body and breath all trembled. He turned and saw; there was nobody there. Even then somebody was surely there. The weight of the cold hand was clear on...

... his shoulder. Before he could speak, that invisible power herself spoke out: "I am death. Tell me what shall I do for you?" That old wood-cutter lost his speech. It was winter season, but his body started sweating profusely. Somehow, he mustered up courage and said: "Oh Goddess, take pity on this poor man. What have you to do with me?" Death said: "I am present because you...

... praise of the door of the palace. In this entire palace that is the only defect. Death will come from the same gate and will take you out. If that gate was also not there, that would be all right." Man constructs palaces of life also. In all of them the same defect exists. For this reason alone, no house proves to be a perfect residence. In all of them, there remains at least One gate and that...

... gate itself becomes the door of death. But is it not possible to have such a residence for life in which no door for death is there?" Yes; it is possible. But that house has no walls. It has doors and only doors, and because there are doors and doors alone, the doors remain invisible. And death can enter only where there is door. Where there are only doors and doors, there the door does not...

... has no door for the death to enter. Nor are there walls to surround death. Where there is no pride there is soul. Soul is unbound and unending like the sky; and what is unbound and unending is immortal. 58. I was a guest in a small village. The village was small; but it had a temple, it had a mosque and it had a church also. People were religious and by the day-dawn they would all go to their places...

...; The prisoner said: worship and pray? What worship and prayer now? I have received a letter from home only yesterday that the death punishment has been converted into imprisonment for seven years. Whatever I wanted to be performed by God, has been completed. It is no longer desirable to bother that poor chap for nothing." 59. Who can prevent man from reaching God? .And who can tie up man to the...

... MYRIAD DOORS TO THE TRUTH ALL COME FROM THE MIND. WHEN APPEARANCES OF THE MIND ARE AS TRANSPARENT AS SPACE, THEY'RE GONE .... WHEN MORTALS ARE ALIVE THEY WORRY ABOUT DEATH. WHEN THEY'RE FULL, THEY WORRY ABOUT HUNGER. THEIRS IS THE GREAT UNCERTAINTY. BUT SAGES DON'T CONSIDER THE PAST. AND THEY DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE. NOR DO THEY CLING TO THE PRESENT. FROM MOMENT TO MOMENT THEY FOLLOW THE WAY...

... beings but around animals and around trees, around a roseflower. The roseflower was there in the picture and just by the side, a small light-aura. He was surprised to know that the more silent, peaceful a man was, the bigger was the aura. And the more angry, anxiety-ridden, sad, miserable, full of anguish a man was, the smaller was the aura. And before a man was going to die, six months before, the...

... light, very soft light. This is the body that transmigrates. That's why, before death -- as Kirlian discovered -- six months before, this body starts disappearing, it starts becoming condensed inside the being of man. It takes six months for it to come back to the center and become just a point of light instead of a big aura. And this small point of light transmigrates while your whole body remains...

... anywhere in the world. In the East there is no savior. You are the savior. Nobody else can do that for you. It would be really ugly if somebody else could save you. Then even your being, saved or redeemed, is a kind of slavery. And if somebody else can redeem you, somebody else can push you back into the wheel of birth and death, because you are just a puppet. All the religions that believe in saviors...

... an immortal. He is as afraid of death as you are, or perhaps more, because he is thinking more about life, death, birth. The more he thinks, the more he creates a paranoia. Sigmund Freud was thinking more about death just because he was thinking about sex. Sex is one side of life, the beginning. And death is the other side of life, the end. A person who thinks about sex cannot avoid thinking about...

... death. He has to. Sex and death are so deeply connected. You will be surprised that there are, in South Africa, a species of spiders: the male makes love only one time in his life because the next chance never arises. While he is making love, the female spider starts eating him. He has long legs and the female starts eating through his legs. And he is in such an ecstasy, he is not in his consciousness...

.... By the time his orgasm is finished, he is also finished. Every spider knows that this is happening every day -- but what to do? Sooner or later every spider finds himself trapped into the same thing. Sex and death have come very close in that species. It is not that close in human beings, but it is not very far either. Sex is the beginning of death. Sigmund Freud was so afraid of death that he...

... prohibited anybody from creating any discussion about death in front of him. And he had hundreds of disciples. Perhaps in this whole century he was one of the greatest teachers. He created the great profession of psychoanalysis, and those who learned psychoanalysis from him brag about the fact that they are disciples of the original master, the founder of psychoanalysis itself. But they don't know that...

... Sigmund Freud was so much afraid of death that even at the mention of it, three times in his life, he fainted. He became unconscious just because somebody mentioned the word, 'death.' Even the word reminded him of his own death. He never used to pass through any cemetery; even if he had to go around a few miles to avoid a cemetery he would go, but he would never go to a cemetery. He never went to the...

... cemetery to say the last goodbye to a friend who had died, never! He went only once, but then he never came back! Bodhidharma is saying: SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE TEACHING OF MORTALS IS A MORTAL. A MORTAL WHO CAN GIVE UP THE TEACHING OF MORTALS AND FOLLOW THE TEACHING OF SAGES BECOMES A SAGE. Drop the teachings of those who don't know that there is life beyond death. Then they don't know anything at...

... all. All their knowledge is simply verbal, just so much prose. In fact, it is just rubbish and crap. If you want to be a disciple, at least choose someone who knows something beyond death. And the person who knows something beyond death is bound to be the person who knows something beyond mind, because they are the same experiences. BUT THE FOOLS OF THIS WORLD PREFER TO LOOK FOR SAGES FAR AWAY. It...

... want and you can do with the statue whatever you want; the statue cannot do anything to you. But a living buddha is dangerous. To be in contact with him is to be constantly risking, because he is taking you towards the goal where you will disappear. You will BE, but just pure consciousness, not an ego. The UPANISHADS say that the authentic master is a death. He kills the disciple as an ego. He makes...

... religious. It is a Sunday religion. As the bishop entered he found a young man looking exactly like Jesus Christ. His heart sank. He felt he was going to die. "My God, why has he come here? He has not learned any lesson. When he came, what people did to him -- and again he is back! But it is better to enquire who he is. Perhaps he is just a hippy who looks like Jesus." So he went close to him...

... fruit. THE MYRIAD DOORS TO THE TRUTH ALL COME FROM THE MIND. WHEN APPEARANCES OF THE MIND ARE AS TRANSPARENT AS SPACE, THEY ARE GONE .... WHEN MORTALS ARE ALIVE THEY WORRY ABOUT DEATH. WHEN THEY ARE FULL, THEY WORRY ABOUT HUNGER. THEIRS IS THE GREAT UNCERTAINTY. BUT SAGES DON'T CONSIDER THE PAST. Because the past is no more ... AND THEY DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE. Because the future is not yet...

... richness, death gives it passion and intensity. So death is not against life - the first thing - death is involved in life. And if you want to live authentically you have to learn how to continuously die authentically. You have to keep a balance between birth and death and you have to remain just in the middle. That remaining in the middle cannot be a static thing: it is not that once you have attained...

... and no darkness, or, only darkness and no light. That would be logical. There would be either life or death but not both. But life is not based on Aristotle's logic, life has both. And life is really possible only because of both, because of the opposites: man and woman, yin and yang, day and night, birth and death, love and hate. Life consists of both. This is the first thing you have to allow to...

... opposites are complementaries. And the tension between the opposites is the very basis on which life exists - otherwise it would disappear. Think of a world where death does not exist.... Your mind may say 'then life will be there eternally', but you are wrong. If death does not exist life will simply disappear. It cannot exist without death; death gives it the background, death gives it colour and...

..., you'll probably fire me. Fifth, should death come to you, I'll lose the source of my sustenance. 'Now,' Shaqiq concluded, 'it happens that I have a Master who is totally devoid of such imperfections.' This is what trust is. Trust in life then you cannot lose anything.But that trust cannot come by doctrination, that trust cannot come by education, preaching, studying, thinking - that trust can only come...

... balance. And in that state of balance, some day, when you are really balanced, neither leaning on this side nor leaning on that side, when you are exactly in the middle, you transcend. The middle is the beyond, the middle is the door from where one goes beyond. If you really want to know what existence is, it is neither in life nor in death. Life is one extreme, death is another extreme. It is just...

... exactly in the middle where neither death is nor life is, where one is simply unborn, deathless. In that moment of balance, equilibrium, grace descends. I would like you all to become Hasids, receivers of grace. I would like you to learn this science, this art of balance. The mind very easily chooses the extreme. There are people who indulge: they indulge in sensuality, sexuality, food, clothes, houses...

... children, the home, the world, the marketplace and they go and hide themselves in monasteries. They have chosen another extreme. Indulgence is the extreme life; renunciation is the extreme death. So there is some truth in Friedrich Nietzsche's comment upon Hinduism - that Hinduism is a religion of death. There is some truth when Nietzsche says that Buddha seems to be suicidal. The truth is this: you can...

... move from one extreme to another. The whole Hasidic approach is not to choose any extreme, just to remain in the middle, available to both and yet beyond both, not getting identified with either, not getting obsessed and fixated with either - just remaining free and joyously enjoying both. If life comes, enjoy life; if death comes, enjoy death. If out of his grace God gives love, life - good; if he...

... sends death, it must be good - it is his gift. Baal-Shem is right when he says, 'I have come to teach you joy in God.' Hasidism is a celebrating religion. It is the purest flowering of the whole Judaic culture. Hasidism is the fragrance of the whole Jewish race. It is one of the most beautiful phenomena on the earth. ONCE WHEN THE HASIDIM WERE SITTING TOGETHER IN ALL BROTHERLINESS... Hasidism teaches...

... the ego, the best way is to live in a community, live with people, be concerned with people - with their joy, with their sadness, with their happiness, with their life, with their death. Create a concern for the others, be involved, and then the ego will disappear on its own accord. And when the ego is not, one is free. There is no freedom of the ego, there is only freedom FROM the ego. Hasidism...

.... WHOEVER REACHED TO THE OTHER SIDE WAS TO BE GRANTED HIS LIFE. Now, this sentence is very pregnant - WHOEVER REACHED TO THE OTHER SIDE WAS TO BE GRANTED HIS LIFE. JESUS says many times to his disciples, 'Come unto me if you want life in abundance. If you want life in abundance, come to me.' But life in abundance happens only to people who go beyond birth and death, who go beyond the duality, to the other...

... not a threatening gesture, sir," Death said. "It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra." You cannot escape. If you are going to die in Samarra, you will reach there somehow. You cannot escape death and you cannot escape aloneness. Try as you will -- try, but all efforts fail. Nobody has ever succeeded...

... nothing to be learnt; you have just to unlearn what the society has put on you. You have to regain your childhood, you have to be reborn. That's what Jesus said to Nicodemus: You will have to be reborn. You have to die as you are, and you have to be reborn. You have to wash yourself clean of society. Once the society is dropped, God starts singing a song in you. He is still singing in the birds, because...

.... And it is so fundamental, there is no way to escape from it. It is as fundamental as death. In fact, death is nothing but bringing you the news that you were alone, and now you are alone. What is death? For the whole life you were deceiving yourself that you were with somebody -- you belonged to this family, to this clan, to this society, this culture, to East, to West; you belonged to this...

... organization, to this party... to crowds and crowds you were belonging. And you were feeling very good -- "I am not alone." Then comes death. Shocks you. You start clinging, you start crying, you feel very helpless. A sannyasin will not feel helpless when death comes. A sannyasin will feel perfectly happy when death comes, because death has nothing to shock him with. The sannyasin knows that he is...

... alone. Death cannot take anything away. Death can take away only those deceptions which you have put in your life. To become a sannyasin means you have negated death. You have said, "Now you can come, and you won't find anything to destroy -- I have destroyed all that myself." Sannyas is voluntary death, it is spiritual suicide. It is a declaration that "I am alone, and my aloneness is...

... to avoid death, they try to avoid aloneness. A Sufi parable... There was a merchant in Baghdad who went his servant to market to buy provisions, and in a little while the servant came back white and trembling and said, "Master, just now in the marketplace I was jostled by a man in the crowd, and when I turned I saw it was Death. He looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Now, lend me your...

... horse and I will go to Samarra, and there Death will not find me." The merchant lent his horse, and the servant mounted and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and saw Death standing in the crowd, and he came to Death and said, "Why did you make a threatening gesture to my poor servant when you saw him this morning?" "That was...

... it. Question 6: SOMETIMES YOU TALK NON-SENSE IN THE LECTURES. HOW CAN YOU TELL US TO GO AND LOOK FOR AN ALIVE MASTER IF YOU DIE? YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL THAT WE ARE MARRIED FOR ETERNITY. IF YOU ARE TRYING TO ESCAPE THIS MARRIAGE, TOO BAD: THERE IS NO DIVORCE AVAILABLE FOR GODS! BE CERTAIN THAT WE'LL BE HUNTING YOU EVERYWHERE, IN EVERY STONE OR FLOWER, IN EVERY EYE AND STAR.... Because I am so...

... certain about it, that's why I can play -- that's why I can say, "Look for a living master." I am so certain about you. My trust is absolute about you -- that's why I can say, "When I am gone, don't be bothered with me: look for a living master. But if you have loved me, I will live for you forever. In your love I will live. If you ave loved me, my body will disappear but I cannot die for...

...... because if you have really loved a master, you have moved into eternity with him. The relationship is not of time, it is timeless. There is going to be no death. My body will disappear, your body will disappear -- that will not make any change. If the disappearance of the body makes any change, that simply shows that love had not happened. Love is something beyond the body. Bodies come and go, love...

... death stops working, you will die. Death is every moment throwing away many parts in you which have become non-functional. Many cells die; they are removed by death. When they are removed, new ones are born. You are growing: something is dying and something is being born continuously. Every moment there is death and life, and both are functioning. In language I have to call them both two. They are not...

... to be dead so that you can know what happens. No one else can die for you; no one else's experience can be an experience for you. You will have to die. Death cannot be another's experience for you, it has to be your own. Similar is the case here. What happens when polarities disappear? In a way nothing happens. "Happening" dissolves because all happening is polar. When love and hate both...

... with bliss" is possible only with a background of suffering and anguish. You can feel health only with a background of illness and disease; you can feel life only with a background of death. Buddha cannot say, "Now I am deathless," because death has disappeared so completely that deathlessness cannot be felt. If the misery has disappeared so completely, how can you feel blissful? If...

..., we will say he is not yet a buddha. He cannot utter such things. Darkness must be there if you want to feel light; death must be there if you want to feel deathlessness. You cannot avoid the opposite. It is a basic necessity for any experience to exist. So what is Buddha's experience? Whatsoever we know, it is not that. It is neither negative nor positive, neither this nor that. And whatsoever can...

... nothing is divisible. Existence is indivisible; you cannot divide it - but mind goes on dividing it. It says that "this" is life and "this" is death. What is the actual fact? The actual fact is that both are the same. You are both alive and dying this very moment; you are doing both. Rather, you ARE both -death and life. Mind divides. It says, "this" is death and "this...

..." is life. Not only does it divide; it says that both are opposites, enemies, and that death is trying to destroy life. And it looks okay: death is "trying to destroy life." But if you penetrate deeper, deeper than the mind, death is not trying to destroy life! You cannot exist without death. Death is helping you to exist. It is every moment helping you to exist. If for a single moment...

... two; they are two aspects of one phenomenon. Life and death are one; "life-death" is a process. But mind divides. That division looks okay for us, but that division is false. You say "this" is light and "that" is dark; you divide. But where does darkness start and where does light end? Can you demarcate them? You cannot demark them. Actually, whiteness and blackness are...

... and tell everyone that if they have to ask something they can ask." Ananda started weeping and crying, so Buddha said, "Why are you weeping? For this body? I have been teaching and teaching and teaching that this body is false, it is already dead - or are you weeping for my death? Don't weep, because I have died forty years ago. I died the day I became enlightened, so this body is only...

... a hundred years old, ripe enough to die - one should be ready by that time - but not grown-up enough; the seed of renewing life was not yet burnt. So when death came, Yayati fell at the feet of Death - a great king, a great conqueror! - and he said to Death, "Spare me only one hundred years more. I don't ask for more, just one hundred years more. And it is nothing for you, you can do it. All...

... yes. Why should he? He had lived only eighty years; if his father is not contented with a hundred years, how can he be contented with only eighty years? At least twenty years more he is entitled to live. In those days, the story says, people used to live a hundred years. Why should he die a premature death, an untimely death? And this old fellow has lived enough! He did not want to hurt the old man...

... continuously at daggers with yourself. It is hell to be a saint in this way. Sinners may go to hell after they die; your so-called saints live in hell here and now. There is no certainty about the future hell, but the saint's hell is very much a reality. Never try to cultivate any quality. Then what has to be done? Should one remain violent, disturbed, insane? No, Buddha says there is another way, the right...

... interested in my way of thinking. They have started meditating, but they have to meditate hidden underground in their basements. They cannot tell somebody else that they are meditating because meditation means you have gone insane! "There is no need to meditate at all. Why should one meditate? There is no soul to experience, no God to experience. Man is nothing but a by-product of matter. When death...

... comes all ends, nothing remains beyond death, nothing abides." So consciousness cannot be allowed because meditation is not allowed: meditation is the science of releasing consciousness. And conscience cannot be created because the old ways of creating fear are no more accepted. The whole work has to be done by the government. Of course the government becomes ugly, the government becomes a...

... enjoy. Is this the time to come? All these hundred years have been spent simply in preparing for these moments. Spare me just one hundred years more so that I can live to my heart's content." Death laughed and said, "I am ready to spare one hundred years more to you, but I will have to take one of your sons because I have to go with somebody who resembles you; if not you, at least one of...

.... Take me with you, I am coming with you." Even Death felt sorry for the boy. Death came close to the young man and said, "Are you a fool or something? Your other brothers - one is eighty, one is seventy-five, one is seventy, sixty, sixty-five, fifty - these people are not ready to go and you are the youngest, you have not lived at all. Why are you ready to go?" The young man said, "...

...;If my father could not live in a hundred years, if my eldest brother could not live in eighty years, if my other brothers... nobody has been able to live, then the whole project is nonsense. I don't want to waste time. If I have to die it is better to die now. Why wait for eighty years? If THESE people have not been able to manage, it is absolutely certain it is unmanageable. And let my father try...

... a hundred years more." Death tried to convince him, but he wouldn't listen. Death had to take him away. After a hundred years, Death came back and the situation was the same. Again Yayati fell at his feet and started crying and weeping and he said, "I know that now I should be ready, but nothing is fulfilled yet; all the desires are the same. I have LIVED all the desires, I cannot say...

... that I have not lived them, but nothing is fulfilled. I want more! Now that I have lived a hundred years a new desire has arisen - I want more! I want to live at least one time more, a hundred years more, just one time more." And this went on happening again and again. When Yayati became one thousand years old and Death came, he was just going to fall at his feet. Death said, "Wait - enough...

... enlightened! At least one thing is absolutely certain: that enlightenment is not determined by any causes, it is a sudden phenomenon. Your death may be predictable, your illnesses may be predictable, your foolishnesses may be predictable, but not enlightenment. You see? (AT THIS MOMENT THE VIDEO LIGHTS SUDDENLY COME ON...!) How does it happen? - for no reason at all! Somebody asked Picasso, "You seem...

... somebody is accidental. Your birth is accidental, your death is going to be accidental. Buddha says: The master looks at everything falling and rising, rising and falling. All are accidents. There is only one thing which is not accidental, which is intrinsic, and that is your awareness of it all. That awareness makes you awake. The couple evolved a perfect plan for spending their time. One night a week...

... create more complications. You are already in such a mess! That's why nature closes the door every time you die. This is great compassion, otherwise you will be born mad. Remembering all your past lives you will be in such a state that it will be impossible for you to function at all, because your mother may have been your wife in the past life and in another life she may have been your daughter. Now...

... consolations before you die. If you can die innocent, your death will have a tremendous value. Put aside your knowledge, because it is all borrowed. Put aside your God, because it is only a belief, and nothing more. Put aside the idea of any heaven or hell, because they are only your greed and your fear. Your whole life, you have remained clinging to these things. At least before you die, gather courage...

... - now you have nothing to lose! "A dying man cannot lose anything: death is going to shatter everything. It is better you drop your consolations by your own hand and die innocently, full of wonder and enquiry; because death is the ultimate experience in life. It is the very crescendo." The old man said, "I was afraid, and now you are asking me the same thing. I have worshiped God my...

... may become the cause of your drowning. They were all angry but they could not say anything. And the old man, with closed eyes smiled and said, "It is unfortunate that I never listened to you. I am feeling so light, so unburdened. I am feeling so fearless; not only fearless but curious to die and to see what is the mystery of death." He died, and the smile remained on his face. He died not...

... happening of love. The heart never dances; people live and die without knowing love. Birth is not in your hands; death is not in your hands. Only love was your freedom: that too society has destroyed. These are the only three things which can be major incidents of your life: birth, love and death. Birth you cannot control - your own birth; nobody asks you, you just find yourself one day born. And the same...

... consoling lies. It happened... the last time I went to my hometown was in 1970. One of my old teachers, with whom I always had a very loving relationship, was on his deathbed, so the first thing I did, was go to his house. His son met me at the door and told me, "Please, don't disturb him. He is just on the verge of death. He loves you, he has been remembering you, but we know that your very presence...

... may take away his consolations. And at the moment of death, do not do this to him." I said, "If it was not the moment of death I would have listened to your advice - I have to see him. Even if before he dies, he drops his lies and consolations, his death will have a value even greater than his life had." I pushed the son aside. I went in the house. The old man opened his eyes, smiled...

..., and he said, "I was remembering you and at the same time I was afraid. I heard that you were coming to the town, and thought that perhaps before I die, I might be able to see you one time more. But at the same time there was great fear, as meeting with you can be dangerous!" I said, "It is certainly going to be dangerous. I have come at the right time. I want to take away all your...

... problems; they belong to life. Now life has slipped out of your hands, maybe a few minutes more you will linger here on this shore. Gather courage! Don't encounter death as a coward." He closed his eyes, and he said, "I will try my best." His whole family gathered; they were all angry with me. They were high caste brahmins, very orthodox, and they could not believe that the old man had...

... agreed with me. Death was such a shock that it shattered all his lies. In life you can go on believing in lies; but in death you know perfectly well that boats made of paper are not going to help in the ocean. It is better to know that you have to swim, and you don't have any boat. Clinging to a paper boat is dangerous, it may prevent you from swimming. Rather than taking you to the further shore, it...

... happens with death - it does not ask you either, "Are you ready? I am coming tomorrow." - no advance notice; just suddenly it comes, and you are dead. Only love is the freedom standing between these two. That too, society has tried to snatch away from you, so that your whole life becomes just a mechanical routine. TO SEE THESE LIGHT, FOOLISH, DAINTY, AFFECTING LITTLE SOULS FLUTTER ABOUT - THAT...

... lose the qualities of the warrior. He does not want man to become a coward. He does not want man incapable of accepting challenges in life, whether they are of war or of intellectual opinions. Man should be ready always: his sword should be sharp, and his intelligence should be sharp too. Then only, there can be peace; when everybody is so intelligent, so artful, and so ready to die, though not to be...

... enslaved: then only the world will know a peace which will not be the peace of the graveyard. It will be the peace of a beautiful garden, where birds sing, and flowers blossom, and a cool breeze comes. Life, not death, should be your goal, and a life which is enriched by love; a life which is ready for any emergency; a life one can live dangerously without any fear. First try to understand Zarathustra...

... dazzling. Whenever you come near fear, you are near the door. Fear is symbolic. It says now be aware, don't enter here; death is here. But death is the door - to enlightenment, to all that is beautiful and true. Learn to die. That is the only way to achieve more and more abundant life. Carry your cross on your shoulders. And everybody has to carry his own cross - don't avoid it. The more you avoid it...

... moments of depth. Suddenly you slip down, or if you allow me, you slip up. Both are the same but you are no longer horizontal - you become vertical. Suddenly a turn, and you are slipping out of the linear process. One becomes afraid because mind exists only on the horizontal plane. The mind becomes scared. Where are you going? It looks like death. It looks like madness. Only two interpretations are...

... is needed. Life comes to those who risk, who live dangerously, almost on the verge of death. That was the attraction in the past of being a soldier, a warrior. The attraction was not of war, but of danger - just to move side by side with death. It gives you a crystallisation, and there comes a time when no fear remains in you. Just imagine a point where no fear is in you. That is freedom, what...

... allow you to see, it does not allow you to hear, it does not allow you to live, it does not allow you to love. Fear kills people before death comes. A man dies a thousand and one times before death comes. Real death is beautiful, but the death that fear projects is the ugliest thing. So next time make this the key: whenever fear arises that means you are somewhere near the block that has to be broken...

.... Superficial ones are lost when you die, but the deeprooted, the essential - and love is one of the most essential - we carry on. It has to be broken. But it is good that you have become aware. You have come across a rock. Don't be worried, just go on hammering on it. Don't force a yes because that will be false, inauthentic. Go on hammering on the rock of no, and one day the rock will give way, and when it...

... simply disappear... you should die continually to the past. So don't waste time. Die to Veeresh, die to Aum, forget all about it. It is gone; it is no longer there. Otherwise, as you are now clinging to that which is no more, when Tao (the group she had started) is over you will be clinging to it. This is how the mind goes on missing. Always remain true to the present. Remain committed to this moment...

...: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. Question 1: BELOVED OSHO, WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT THE ULTIMATE DEATH OF THIS WORLD, I GOT SUDDENLY IN TOUCH WITH DEEP ALONENESS, AND THIS VOICE INSIDE ME SAID, "REMEMBER: EACH SINGLE MOMENT, REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE ALONE. "MY BELOVED MASTER, AFTER OUR DEATH WILL YOU STILL BE, IN SOME MYSTERIOUS WAY, WITH OUR WANDERING CONSCIOUSNESS? Prem Amiyo, aloneness...

... self. The old is gone, the new has arrived. The old was dead; the new belongs to the eternal, the new belongs to the immortal. It is because of this experience that the seers of the UPANISHADS have declared man as amritasya putrah -- "sons and daughters of immortality." Unless you know yourself as eternal beings, part of the whole, you will remain afraid of death. The fear of death is...

... simply because you are not aware of your eternal source of life. Once the eternity of your being is realized, death becomes the greatest lie in existence. Death has never happened, never happens, never will happen, because that which is, remains always -- in different forms, on different levels, but there is no discontinuity. Eternity in the past and eternity in the future both belong to you. And the...

... present moment becomes a meeting point of two eternities: one going towards the past, one going towards the future. Amiyo, you are asking, "When You talked about the ultimate death of this world, I got suddenly in touch with deep aloneness, and this voice inside me said, 'Remember: each single moment, remember that you are alone.'" The remembrance has not to be only of the mind; your every...

... hidden. You never look inside -- because everybody looks outside, you also go on looking outside. To be alone is a great opportunity, a blessing, because in your aloneness you are bound to stumble upon yourself and for the first time remember who you are. To know that you are part of the divine existence is to be free from death, free from misery, free from anxiety; free from all that has been a...

... whole being resounded with these words: "Remember: each single moment, remember that you are alone." You are also asking, "My beloved Master, after our death will you still be, in some mysterious way, with our wandering consciousness?" We are not separate, even now -- nobody is separate; the whole existence is one organic unity. The idea of separation is because of our...

... have been told for thousands of years that the journey to God is very long. The journey is not long, God is not far away. God is in your breath, God is in your heartbeat, God is in your blood, in your bones, in your marrow -- just a single step of closing your eyes and entering within yourself. It may take a little time because old habits die hard: even if you close your eyes, thoughts will go on...

... they have all the money the world can afford... but the money cannot purchase love, the money cannot purchase peace, the money cannot purchase silence, the money cannot purchase prayer, the money cannot purchase God. So what is the use of it? Their inner being remains dark, empty. And it is the inner being that counts finally, because death will take away everything else and leave you only with that...

... which is inner. Death should be accepted as the only criterion to decide what is richness and what is poverty. That which death can take away is not richness; that which death cannot destroy is the real richness. And Milarepa, you are a rich man. You can become even richer. There is no end to it until you become enlightened, until you have reached to the highest peak of the Himalayas of consciousness...

... has been your nourishment. You will feel like dying. But die; and with this death a new life will arise in you, you will be resurrected. Let this be a death - and a total death. Don't die in a lukewarm way, die totally, wholly. Allow this death to happen, and the next moment, out of this death, some new life arises that you have not seen and that has been always within you - but you were not...

...' - so you find another screen. When are you going to drop the projector and the film? When are you going to burn the whole ego trip? In that very moment death has happened, and resurrection. Venu Gopal, you say, 'I'm feeling a strange mixture of the two - a dying and a coming to life at the same time.' That's how it will happen in the beginning: you will die a little bit and you will be born a little...

... bit. Learn a lesson from it: die totally so that you can be born totally. And then you know that each moment one has to die so that each moment one again becomes fresh, young - is born. This can happen each moment, and a true life consists of death-resurrection, death-resurrection. Each moment it happens, each moment one has to die to the past. Only then does the present become available and there...

... is celebration, and there is great joy, and there is great flowering. The Golden Flower blooms if you are ready to die to the past, if you are utterly in the present. And you can be utterly in the present only if you have no desire to be anywhere else in the future, if you have no desire to be somebody else. This I call enlightenment. The second question: Question 2: WHY IS LOVE SO ESSENTIAL FOR...

... SPIRITUAL GROWTH? Love and awareness is the highest form of polarity - just like man/woman, life/death, darkness/light, summer/winter, outer/ inner, yin/yang, the body and the soul, the creation and the creator. Love and awareness is the highest form of polarity, the last polarity, at which transcendence happens. Love needs two. It is a relationship, it is outgoing, it is energy moving outwards. There is...

..., dangerous; death waiting for you at each step; so many traps and so many possibilities of being defeated rather than being successful. Out of one hundred possibilities there is only one possibility that you may reach. But the closer you come to the peak, the higher the joy rises in you. Your spirit soars high. You earn it; it is not free. And the more you have paid for it, the more you will enjoy it. Then...

.... Somebody had to do it, otherwise history would remain incomplete. One Zen Master was dying. Just before he breathed his last he opened his eyes and asked his disciples, 'Please help me to find an alternative way to die.' They asked, 'What kind of question is this?' He said, 'Should I die lying down or sitting or standing? Have you ever heard of anybody dying sitting?' They said, 'Yes, we have heard. Many...

... people, particularly Buddhist monks - they sit in a SIDDHASAN in the full lotus posture and die. We have heard of many dying in a sitting posture.' 'Have you ever heard,' the Master asked, 'of anybody dying standing?' They said, 'It is very rare, but we have heard one story that once a Master died standing.' Then he said, 'Then no other alternative is left. I will die standing on my head.' And he died...

... IS A SANNYASIN. But you are caught, you are trapped! Now it will be very difficult to escape. It is always difficult to choose the new, but only those live who choose the new. To choose the old is to choose death, not life. To choose the familiar is to remain in the prison of the familiar, to choose the known is to avoid really the unknown that is knocking on the door. To choose the known is to...

... creating a wall around the graveyard. Mulla Nasrudin was also a member of the Committee. He stood up, and he said, 'There is no need.' The whole Committee looked puzzled, because everybody was in favour of making a wall around the graveyard. People don't want to see graves and people don't want to see death. People don't want to become aware that death is. That's why graveyards are made outside the town...