... cannot accept them together. In our ordinary life, birth and death are distanced by a span of time - say seventy years. We are born seventy years before our death; we die seventy years after our birth. This distance between birth and death makes us think that life and death are separate things. But when Krishna confronts him with his immense body, his universal being, Arjuna sees life and death...

... look like failure. In his case crucifixion is inevitable. Krishna's case is very different and difficult. In his case no prediction is possible; he is simply un predictable. Whether he will die on the gallows or amid adulation and worship, nobody can say. Nobody could predict the way he really died. He was lying restfully under a tree; it was really not an occasion for death. Someone, a hunter, saw...

... world because of it. But Krishna's death seems to be strange and insignificant. Is this a way to die? Does any one die like this? Is this the way to choose one's death, where someone hits you with an arrow, without your knowing, without any reason? Krishna's death does not make for an historical event; it is as ordinary as a flower blooming, withering and dying. Nobody knows when an evening gust of...

... will have no relevance in the future. Science will eliminate all those hardships that make for life's sufferings. Buddha says that life from birth to death is a suffering. Now pain can be banished. In the future, birth will cease to be painful both for the mother and for the child. Life will cease to be painful; disease can be removed. Even a cure for old age can be found, and the span of life...

... just awaiting death at the most you can serve as a medium for hastening it. But if you think you will kill them, then you will cease to be a medium, you will become a doer. And don't think you will be their savior if you run away from the battlefield. That would be another illusion. You can neither kill them nor save them. You have only to play a role; it is nothing more than play-acting. Therefore...

... thinking, of thinking by splitting everything into two, into its opposites. Krishna tells Arjuna there is really no birth and death, that no one is ever born and no one ever dies, that no one kills and no one gets killed, so Arjuna can plunge into war without fear and with abandon, so he can play freely with war. Everything on this earth is divine; everything in existence is godly, so the question of...

... and dogmas and superstitions, he himself remains untouched by them he always remains the vast ocean that he is. Evidently he is going to create difficulties for you. And the greatest difficulty you will face is when your own tiny pools dry up and die, and Krishna's ocean lives and goes on and on and on. He is beyond and ever beyond. Krishna's ocean is really all over; he is all-pervasive. He is in...

... still hesitating, wavering. If he runs away, the whole game will fall to pieces. So when arguments fail, Krishna unfolds his whole being, his immensity before him, and Arjuna is greatly disturbed to see it. Anyone would be disturbed to see it, because Krishna's real being, his universal being, comprises all the contradictions of existence. One sees that life and death are there together. But one...

... suffering into a fiction. In the same way the hedonists turn happiness into a fiction by laying all their stress on it. The materialists give too much importance to happiness, and they deny suffering altogether. But that is not true. Remember, a half truth is a lie: truth can only be whole; it cannot be fragmentary. If someone says that life is, he tells a lie, because death is inseparably linked with...

... life. Similarly it is a lie to say that only death is, because life is irrevocably joined to death. It is not a fact that life is unmitigated suffering. What is a fact then? That life is both happiness and sorrow is a fact. If you observe it carefully and closely and deeply, you will find that every happiness is blended with pain and every pain is mixed with happiness. And if you go still deeper into...

... Jesus is asked to stand like Krishna, with one leg on the other, a crown of peacock feathers on his head and a flute on his lips, Jesus will immediately say, "I prefer the cross to this flute." He is at ease with the cross; he never felt so happy as on the cross. From the cross alone could he say, "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing." He meets his death...

... him from a distance, thought a deer was lying there and hit him with his arrow. His death was so accidental, so out of place; it is rare in its own way. Everybody's death has an element of predetermination about it; Krishna's death seems to be totally undetermined. He dies in a manner as if his death has no utility whatsoever. His life was wholly non-utilitarian; so is his death. The death of Jesus...

... wind comes and hurls the flower to the ground. Krishna's death is such a non-event. It is so because he is multi-dimensional. Nothing can be said about his goings-on; none can know how his life is going to shape itself. Lastly, let us look at it in another way. If Mahavira has to live another fifty yeats it can certainly be said how his life will shape up. Similarly, if Jesus is given an extra span...

... the same mistake again. They will say, "Don't get involved with this man again, leave him alone. Let him say and do what he likes." In his lifetime Jesus could not get many people to become interested in him; after his death millions became interested. But of the hundred thousand people who had gathered to watch him being crucified, hardly eight were those who loved him. Eight in a hundred...

... particular historical moment. We did not write Krishna's history. The dates of his birth and death are not definitely known. And it is useless to know them: any dates would do. Particular dates and times are irrelevant in relation to Krishna: he can happen at any date and time; he will be relevant to any time and situation. He will have no difficulty whatsoever in being what he is; he will be the same in...

... destroyed all possibilities of your growth. You are now moving towards death. If sex is life, then celibacy is death. This is a simple logic. And AIDS is another name of slow death. That's why there is no cure for it, because there is no cure for death. The only difference is, death comes suddenly; AIDS comes slowly, takes time. But to die suddenly has a beauty. One moment you are alive, next moment you...

... are gone; there is no intermediate period where you are in torture. But a man who has to live for two years waiting for death - you cannot conceive his torture. He knows there is no way to avoid it. All his life loses meaning; he is simply waiting in immense anguish. And two years for him are not just two years. Time is relative. If you are happy, time goes fast. If you are meeting your beloved, you...

... cannot believe that the night is over and on the horizon the sun is rising. If you are meeting a friend after many years, hours pass - it seems suddenly time is running, not walking in the normal way. But when you are just in despair, anguish, and there is nothing tomorrow except death, those two years are almost infinite. To us, from the outside, they are two years; but for the person who is in the...

... have forced death on humanity, destructiveness on humanity. And the ultimate result is AIDS. And AIDS is more dangerous than nuclear weapons, because nuclear weapons are not going to be used at all. It is absolutely clear that to use those weapons is to destroy all life on the planet. War has meaning when somebody is victorious and somebody is defeated. War has no meaning when the whole of humanity...

... engineering. He is searching for a physician to change any part that is preventing the soul of his wife from entering this beautiful body. Now scientists say that the human body has the capacity of rejuvenating itself as long as you want. Why do people almost always die at the age of seventy, on average? The reason is not physical, the reason is psychological. We have become accustomed to the idea that life...

... they have turned millions of people into a gang of suicidal people. The moment your love dies, many other things also die in you. A man whose love is dead is incapable of seeing beauty in a painting. If he cannot see beauty in a human face, in the face of Cleopatra; if he cannot see beauty in the ultimate expression of existence, what can he see on a canvas? Just a few colors. He cannot see beauty in...

... sad; they are victims of your stupid ideas. They are suffering because of their parents. There are blind children, there are deaf children. There are children who are sick from the very beginning. In Tibet, it used to be a traditional thing that whenever a child was born they would dip the child in freezing, ice-cold water nine times. Out of ten children, nine would die. Looks inhuman, primitive...

... those two keys were to all the files containing all the papers against all the Indian politicians. In fact, it seems she felt relieved by Sanjay Gandhi's death, because Sanjay Gandhi was harassing her. It is a well-known fact all over the country - there are eyewitnesses - that once Sanjay Gandhi slapped Indira Gandhi. And it was an everyday thing, they were fighting continuously, because he wanted...

... all those files. Finally, just to keep the peace, she had given him the keys. His death came as a relief; the keys were back with her. You are asking me, "How can we stop people from getting into a power trip?" Start from yourself. Just don't do anything to dominate, and don't allow anybody to dominate you either. Take the whole responsibility of being an individual, and respect the right...

...: whenever something beyond your expectations is fulfilled, you will always find a deep desire to die; because who knows, tomorrow may not bring the same contentment, the same joy, the same beauty, the same experience. It is better to die at this peak rather than in any despair, in sadness, in misery. Why not die in a moment of celebration? Why not make death also a celebration? But that is possible only...

... to die. But my suggestion is: wait a little, because I know something more than that. I have passed that point, and the day I passed that point, life for the first time opened all its mysteries to me. Since then, not for a single moment has the desire to die arisen in me, for the simple fact that now I know: there is no death. There is more life and more life and more life. And there is no end to...

... Available: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. Question 1: BELOVED OSHO, WHEN I LOOK AT MY LIFE, IT IS RICHER AND MORE FULFILLED THAN I COULD HAVE EVER EXPECTED. I AM FILLED WITH GRATITUDE THROUGH ALL THE LOVE, UNDERSTANDING AND SHEER JOY THAT BEING WITH YOU HAS BROUGHT ME. WHY THEN, BELOVED OSHO, DO I THINK OF DEATH SO LONGINGLY? Devageet, there are many things which have to be understood before you...

... when you are at the peak of fulfillment; it is not possible when you are in the valleys and in the darkness. So whenever you feel fulfilled, contented, so contented that you could never have expected it, you will find arising in you a natural, very spontaneous desire: that this is the right moment to die - at the highest peak of your life. What more can there be? Why go on living? It is risky to live...

..., because one can always lose this height. It is risky to live because one can become accustomed to this joy, this happiness; one may start taking it for granted; it may become just an ordinary thing. One may forget that it is extraordinary and happens only very rarely to very, very few human beings. You may not be aware of all these considerations. But these are the reasons why the desire to die at such...

... a moment arises. You are saying, "I am filled with gratitude for all the love, understanding and sheer joy that being with you has brought me. Why then, Beloved Osho, do I think of death so longingly?" It is one of those contradictions of existence, those mysteries of existence. For example, the poor man is never frustrated, because he has something to hope for: tomorrow may bring good...

... strange space. I have never accepted any limit to anything. When this moment came to me, I insisted that I could not accept that this is all. Life must be much more. And what is the harm in searching? You can die tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. What is the hurry? Why today? So the first thing is: you are free to die any time. There is no problem, but it is better to inquire more, to investigate more...

..., to explore more ... And I promise you that soon you will be surprised to find that at the moment when that desire to die was so strong, you were simply passing through the boundary line of your mind, going beyond the mind into the no-mind. And, in fact, once you have passed this point, you will know for the first time what real life is. Fulfillment, contentment, feeling richer are all irrelevant...

... renewal; life alone will become really boredom. Death is something closer to sleep, a deeper sleep which one needs between two lives, so the old life is completely erased, and you are clean again to be reborn, renewed, fresh. If you choose only life you will be only getting older and older and older - and bored. And if there is no death, it will be terrible. You would like to die at a certain point...

... conditioned to insult life. It seems to be a strategy, so that our whole respect goes to fictitious gods. Life should not receive our respect; it is too mundane, too ordinary. Respect should be kept only for something beyond life. But beyond life there is only death. The people who love Zorba, the atheists particularly, are also against me, saying that I am joining Buddha with Zorba and destroying Zorba...

... chitchatting with friends he has renounced. He has no friends; he has only people who respect him. And there is a great distance between him and the people who respect him - and the distance is from life. So the whole past is full of life worshipping death, and life trying to achieve respectability at the cost of losing livingness. This has destroyed all of human nature, its harmony; and it has created a...

..., whether you are enjoying or not. This seems to be not exactly what Brihaspati may have said. But it can give the indication that the man must have said that there is no other life, that this is the only life there is. And it continues on; there is no death, there is no god that you have to follow or worship or pray to. The only prayer is that you live a life of joy. Other than that there is no prayer...

... Buddha will become too serious and too dead. He will not be superficial, but he will be dead. So what is the point of attaining depth if it becomes death? Life should attain depth, and reverence for life should be the only religion in the world. Then there is no division, and man can be healed. This is a great challenge for the coming humanity. That's why I go on insisting that we should discontinue...

... not lead you to die, to renounce, but leads you to rejoice, to dance, to celebrate. Question 2: BELOVED OSHO, BY NOW, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE CONFUSED BY YOUR CONTRADICTORY ACTIONS AND STATEMENTS. BUT ALSO WE, YOUR FRIENDS, TEND TO DIMINISH OR SIMPLIFY YOUR WORDS. OSHO, WHAT IS AT THE HEART OF YOUR CONTRADICTIONS? HOW CAN WE ENTER YOUR WILD DANCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS? There are no contradictions - only...

... prayer is: "Lead me from darkness to light." That means, "Lead me from Zorba to Buddha, lead me from death to life, lead me from untruth to truth." It looks very innocent - it is not so. If you have understood what I am saying, it is a very dangerous prayer. It is choice: choosing between darkness and light, it chooses light. But you need both. Light alone will drive you insane. You...

... need the silence of darkness, the rest of darkness too. Light is a tension, it is tiring. Darkness is nourishment, it is rejuvenating. You cannot choose. Whoever wrote that prayer - which is the most famous prayer in Hinduism - is utterly wrong because he is making choices. He is choosing life against death. That is not possible. Life and death are in a dynamic relationship. Death is a rest and a...

... because you have experienced everything that life can give. Now how long can you go on repeating the same thing? - a hundred years, two hundred years, three hundred years, a thousand years... but a day is bound to come when you will wish, "Give me death! I don't want life anymore because I want to rest." And untruth and truth - they are not to be chosen. Untruth and truth, both are needed...

.... But he knows both, and he knows the essential relationship between the two - that they are as related as life and death, as light and darkness, and they cannot be separated. Don't ask for one thing - remain choiceless. And choicelessness will bring the Zorba to Buddhahood, without destroying the Zorba and without taking the juice out of Buddha. And the world will be immensely enriched by people who...

... go somewhere else?" Now he was really angry. He said, "This is a strange world. They don't let you live, they don't let you die! I cannot even choose the place for my death!" If you start thinking in such terms -- that others are responsible, that the world is the problem, other people are the problem -- then you are looking from a very wrong perspective. Chang Ch'o's perspective is...

...." AS SOON AS THE SOURCE OF THE SICKNESS WAS POINTED OUT TO HIM BY AN OLD ADEPT, CHANG CH'O, THE FAMOUS SCHOLAR IN THE OLD DAYS UNDERSTOOD ENOUGH TO SAY: TRYING TO ELIMINATE PASSION AGGRAVATES THE DISEASE; RUSHING TOWARDS TRUE SUCHNESS IS ALSO WRONG. THERE IS NO OBSTRUCTION IN WORLDLY CIRCUMSTANCES ACCORDING TO ONE'S LOT: "NIRVANA" AND "BIRTH AND DEATH" ARE EQUALLY ILLUSIONS...

... SENTIENT BEINGS AT ONCE. The same mistake continues. It is true: if you want to attain oneness you have to drop all kinds of duality. The duality between the ignorant and knowledgeable, the duality between birth and death, all kinds of dualities have to be dropped. But buddhahood is another name of oneness. There is nothing opposite to buddha. It is not part of the world of dualities, it is the very...

... THUSNESS IS ONLY THE ILLUMINATION OF SUBLIME ENLIGHTENMENT SHINING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE COSMOS." Now, what is this illumination of sublime enlightenment, except buddhahood? -- just a different name. And if even this has to be dropped, then what remains? Dualities have to be dropped, not oneness. Birth and death have to be dropped, not life. Life is eternal, it is beyond birth and beyond death. Now...

... it is the very principle of life. Birth happens in it, death happens in it -- thousands of times -- but life continues. Birth and death are small incidents in the eternal flow of life-energies. Birth is not the beginning and death is not the end ... just small incidents in the eternity of life and existence. ... nevertheless both are ultimately empty falsehoods. Now this is his own statement...

... into the fire, alive. Enough is enough -- I have seen the world, I have seen renunciation. Now the only thing left is to see whether in death people can get peace or not!" The villagers said, "Your idea perhaps is right, but do one thing: don't make your funeral pyre here, because when you are burning ... We poor people live here. It will stink and the smoke will come to our huts. Can't you...

... absolutely right when he says, THERE IS NO OBSTRUCTION IN WORLDLY CIRCUMSTANCES ACCORDING TO ONE'S LOT: "NIRVANA" AND "BIRTH AND DEATH" ARE ALL EQUALLY ILLUSIONS. What he is saying is that people think that if they can achieve nirvana then there will be no birth, no death, no misery, no problem. Nirvana, according to their mind, is just a golden paradise. But the nirvana conceived by...

... the ignorant people cannot be the true nirvana; hence Chang Ch'o has put 'nirvana' into inverted commas. He does not mean the real state of nirvana; he means the conception of nirvana according to ignorant people. Because of their ignorance they will think about nirvana also, but it cannot be the true nirvana. Their nirvana, their birth and death, are all equally illusions. When they have gone...

... is also wrong. This is against all religions, who want you to be greedy for a life after death, for a heaven where you will be rewarded, where your virtues will be rewarded -- and there seems to be no criterion as to how the virtues will be rewarded. I have heard Hindu saints saying that if you donate one rupee to a saint here ... of course, to a saint -- and there is no saint other than himself in...

..., where I am going. Secondly, about death - to promise you that I will die only when you are present, I will have to make certain arrangements with death too - that death has to wait. You are putting me in a strange business! I have never asked anybody anything, and now you are forcing me to ask death, 'Wait a little, let Mahakashyap come.'" But Mahakashyap was very adamant. He said, "Then I...

... ordinary concern. Physically, I have been put into every possible situation so that an indirect death can happen. Because down the ages the politicians and the priests have learned one thing - that crucifying is not helpful. If they had not crucified Jesus there would have been no Christianity. Poisoning Socrates has not been helpful; it is because of the poisoning that Socrates remains and will remain...

... always in the memories of humanity as a genius, a man who has helped the evolution of man's intelligence immensely. Without his poisoning perhaps we would have forgotten him. They have learned one thing: that if you want to kill Jesus again then it has not to be a crucifixion, it has to be indirect - as if it is an accident, as if it is a natural death. That's what they did with me in America. Ronald...

... die a magistrate. If you don't allow the bail, your promotion to a federal judge is absolutely certain." Why did they want this? Because the distance between the place they arrested me, North Carolina, and the court in Oregon was only five hours, six hours by plane. And that's what they promised, that "Within six hours we will produce you in Oregon, from where we have been asked to arrest...

... college before you got your degree, that you will serve life, not death. And this is not serving life." He said, "I am sorry, but... orders from above. I am a poor doctor, I cannot disobey; just excuse me." And immediately my cell was changed. They were giving me medicines - which I never took; I accepted them and threw them in the wastepaper basket, because those medicines I had no need...

... thirsty person. You are my hands, you are my eyes. Now you are my being. Go - I will be with you." Mahakashyap said, "With one condition: that you will not die without me. I have to be present. Secondly, I have to be kept informed of which direction you are moving in so that every day I can bow down in that direction. Although you will be far away - I will not be able to see you - perhaps you...

... ask death - I have never asked anybody. But this Mahakashyap... if he does not come before the sunrise tomorrow I will have to ask death to wait." Many followers rushed in all directions to find Mahakashyap. He was found, he came in the right time. And Buddha smiled and he said, "I knew it, that you would not let me down, that you would not force me to ask death to wait. Now death can come...

... death. Just as others are witnessing from the outside, you would have witnessed it from the inside. If a man dies consciously, then he is also born consciously, because death is one side and birth is another side. Death is the beginning of a new life. Within seconds, you will be entering a new womb. And if you die peacefully, without any disturbance, you will enter a new womb with the same silence...

...: N.A. Question 1: BELOVED OSHO, WAIVERING BETWEEN BOLD ACTION AND PARALYZING DOUBT, SILENT ACCEPTANCE AND USELESS SABOTAGE, I STRUGGLE... WAITING. PLEASE COMMENT ON SILENCE AND DEATH. Anand Nirvana, it seems you are not clear about what you want to ask. The question seems to be out of confusion. You are saying, "Waivering between bold action and paralyzing doubt, silent acceptance and useless...

... sabotage, I struggle... waiting. Please comment on silence and death." The first thing you have to remember is, no bold action is expected of you here at least. We are not preparing warriors, we are preparing peaceful, loving human beings - not violent, not destructive, not murderers. The question of bold action does not arise. You have created the problem yourself. First, you think that a bold...

... there is silent acceptance, how can there be useless sabotage? And if the useless sabotage is there, then what do you mean by "silent acceptance"? And apparently, absolutely unrelated, suddenly you ask, "Please comment on silence and death." From "bold action" to "paralyzing doubt," from "silent acceptance" to "useless sabotage" - and...

... suddenly the question arises about silence and death! You must be very much split in your mind, schizophrenic. But this is not only your disease, so don't feel bad about it. It is the disease of almost all human beings, more or less... just you are courageous enough to expose the disease. The others are not so courageous - they keep it down, repressed within themselves. They don't tell anybody; they...

... repress it so deeply that even they themselves become unaware that it exists. But because you have asked, I would like to say a few things to you. Silence knows no death, it is only the mind that is not silent which falls into the fallacy of death. Have you ever died in your life? You have always seen somebody else dying, but you have never seen yourself dying - although you have died many times, in...

... many lives. But because you don't have a silent mind, each time when death came to you, you became so disturbed that you fell into a coma. You died in unconsciousness; that's why you don't remember your past lives. If you had died in silence, peace, consciously, you would have been amazed to know that it is only the body that is dying, but not you, not the witness. You would have witnessed your own...

..., with the same awareness. The nine months in the mother's womb will not be of unawareness. And the birth out of the mother's womb will be in full silence and joy, because now you know that neither death matters nor birth; you belong to eternity. Birth and death are small episodes. But silence has not to be just a word, it has to become your experience, and it will give you a tremendous intelligence...

... was creating a very dangerous situation. If these people who have nothing are living so joyously, then why are all the Christians of America and all the Jews of America, who have everything, miserable? We were even celebrating death - they were not even able to celebrate life. Whenever some sannyasin died, it was an opportunity to rejoice and give him a good farewell, dancing and singing. He is...

.... NEXT ZARATHUSTRA FINDS HIMSELF FACE TO FACE WITH 'THE UGLIEST MAN' - THE MAN WHO KILLED GOD. THIS MAN IS ON HIS WAY TO ZARATHUSTRA, FINDING IN HIM HIS LAST REFUGE. HE EXPLAINS WHY GOD HAD TO DIE - HE SAW TOO MUCH ABOUT MAN, HIS PITY KNEW NO SHAME - SO THAT FINALLY THE UGLIEST MAN REALIZED THAT EITHER HE HIMSELF WOULD DIE OF SHAME OR TAKE REVENGE ON GOD. 'MAN,' HE EXPLAINED TO ZARATHUSTRA, 'COULD NOT...

.... Zarathustra's superman has not to be confused with the higher man. The superman is a discontinuity with man as he is. For the superman the higher man has to die - with all his knowledge, all his virtue, all his ego - and give place to a pure consciousness, like that of a child. The higher man is a continuity. It is the same old man decorated with money, with spirituality, with religiousness, with...

... terrorists and their bombs. These corpses should not be anymore given back to the earth; they should be given to people who don't have enough to eat. It looks like a strange demand, but the government has conceded to it. Now in Palestine, to eat human flesh is legal. And that's how things go. First they will eat the people who die naturally; they will eat the people who are killed by the terrorists, and...

... their own species. No lion will eat another lion. He may die hungry, the dead body of the other lion may be available, but he will not eat it. Except man, no animal has even tried to eat of its own species. And man is God's greatest creation. THE BIBLE says He created man in His own image. If man is really God's image then God is not very godly. Man may be the image of the devil, but not of God...

... king... after the full moon there is only death. For the second-day moon there is more life. You are going to expand your empire; he is finished, he is spent. Who said to you that the second-day moon is lower than the full moon?" His interpretation was perfect. The king was very angry with the court people and he said, "You have been conspiring against a man of great wisdom." Outside...

... he is a higher man, a holier man than any other man. And because he knows Zarathustra says God is dead, just to persuade Zarathustra, he even says he knows how and why God died - because he has been so intimate with him: HE SUFFOCATED THROUGH EXCESSIVE SELF-PITY. He became tired of self-pity, for eternity. It is not an easy thing, to remain alive for eternity. One would like to die. And because he...

... you drink the water, think twice, because I was a fool to drink the water. "Now I want to die. I am tired - tired of existence, tired of its meaninglessness, but I cannot even commit suicide. There is no way to die. I have tried everything. I have drunk every kind of poison; I have allowed poisonous cobras to bite me, but nothing affects me. I have hit my head with stones, but got not even a...

... scratch. Just think of me: I have completely forgotten how many million years... And it is so tiresome. And now I know that I cannot die, all joy of living has disappeared. Life has become a burden to me. So I wanted to tell you my story. Now if you think still to become immortal, you can drink the water." He had taken the water in his hands; he dropped the water. He thought, "What the crow is...

... saying makes sense. One wants to rest, and there comes a time when one wants to die too." God has been living from eternity and He created this mess of a world, where everything is wrong. And there seems to be no possibility of any improvement. The pope said... HE SUFFOCATED THROUGH EXCESSIVE SELF-PITY. BOTH THE SORCERER AND THE OLD POPE ARE INVITED TO GO TO ZARATHUSTRA'S CAVE. NEXT ZARATHUSTRA...

... FINDS HIMSELF FACE TO FACE WITH 'THE UGLIEST MAN' - THE MAN WHO KILLED GOD. THIS MAN IS ON HIS WAY TO ZARATHUSTRA, FINDING IN HIM HIS LAST REFUGE. HE EXPLAINS WHY GOD HAD TO DIE - HE SAW TOO MUCH ABOUT MAN. He knew too much about man. For Him, man was almost transparent. You could not hide anything from Him. HIS PITY KNEW NO SHAME - SO THAT FINALLY THE UGLIEST MAN REALIZED THAT EITHER HE HIMSELF WOULD...

... DIE OF SHAME OR TAKE REVENGE ON GOD. 'MAN,' HE EXPLAINED TO ZARATHUSTRA, 'COULD NOT ENDURE SUCH A WITNESS SHOULD LIVE. God knows too much about man and such a witness should not be allowed to live. That's why I killed him. He is also coming to Zarathustra to be declared the superman. A man who killed God is no ordinary man; although Zarathustra sees him as 'the ugliest man.' AGAIN, ZARATHUSTRA...

... have nothing to do with his concept of the superman. The superman will not be a continuity with you. The superman can come into existence only if you disappear. Man has to be only a seed; he contains the superman as a potential in him, but the seed has to die in the soil. Only then, green sprouts will start growing; and soon there will be a beautiful tree with foliage, fresh and young, with flowers...

..., your personality, will be on fire continuously. Hence, the cross. The cross is a symbol of death... and until you die, nothing is possible; until you die, the resurrection is not possible. LET HIM DENY HIMSELF, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY. This has to be done daily, every morning. You cannot think that "Yes, I have surrendered once. It is finished." It is not so easy. You will have to...

... there to look after you. Move into death; I will take care so that the new can come in. Don't be worried, you relax... FOR MY SAKE." That's why religion will never become a philosophy, it will never become a theology. It will never be based on arguments; it cannot be. The very nature of it forbids it. It will remain a trust. If you trust me, you can die easily without fear. You know that I am...

... old man; one day you were born, one day you will die - the body changes. But the YOU who abides in the body, who has made it a temporary abode - that 'you' is eternal, that is the truth. It is formless, it has no qualities. It is immortal; it is eternity. Religion is not a tradition, so you cannot borrow religion. You will have to risk yourself; you will have to earn it. You will have to stake your...

... spirit; He will go on stirring you. He will not allow you to settle for anything less. Unless you attain to the ultimate you will not be allowed to rest. Religion is a challenge, it is a great storm. It is like death; it is not a consolation. The so-called religions, the organized religions, are consolations. They console you, they hide your wounds. They don't stir you, they don't call and invoke you...

... deeply in heaven - who bothers about the heaven which comes after death? Sinners are more courageous, they risk. And, BEHOLD, many PUBLICANS AND SINNERS CAME AND SAT DOWN WITH HIM AND HIS DISCIPLES. AND WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT - the respectable people, the righteous - THEY SAID UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, WHY EATETH YOUR MASTER WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS? Their mind is always concerned with such foolish...

... and you need me, but you have just been thinking that you are not ill." The greatest illness that can happen to a man is when he is ill and thinks that he is not ill. Then nobody can cure him, then no medicine will help him. Then the physician may be next door, but the man will die uncured. This is the greatest misfortune that can befall a man: to be sick and to think himself healthy. BUT GO YE...

... UP HIS CROSS DAILY. A life with Jesus is a moment-to-moment life. It is not a planning for the future. It has no plan; it is spontaneous. One has to live moment to moment AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY. And why a cross? - because surrender is death. And why a cross? - because surrender is pain. Why a cross? - because surrender is suffering. Your whole ego will suffer and burn. Your ideas, your past...

... it. Looks paradoxical, but it is a simple truth. The seed dies in the soil and becomes a great tree. But the seed can cling to its own self, go on protecting itself and defending itself, because for the seed it looks like death. The seed will never be able to see the plant, so it is a death. You will never be able to see the man I am talking about, so it is a perfect death. You cannot even imagine...

... SAME SHALL SAVE IT. Why does Jesus insist: FOR MY SAKE? Look at the problem: if you are going to die completely and a new man is going to come only when you are no more, then who will be the bridge between you and the new? Who will be the bridge? You cannot be the bridge otherwise the new will not be new; it will just be a modified old. The Master becomes the bridge. He says, "Die silently. I am...

... trembling. She looked at the samurai, her husband, but he was sitting silently. It was as if nothing was happening. And they were in the throes of death! At any moment the boat would go under water. The woman said, "What are you doing? Why are you sitting like a statue?" The samurai pulled his sword out of its sheath - the wife could not believe it: what was he doing? - and he put his naked...

... dangerous, but it is in the hands of somebody whom I love and who loves me. That's why I am unafraid." When the sword is in your Master's hand and he is going to kill you, if you trust him, only then will you die peacefully, lovingly, gracefully. And out of that grace... and out of that peace... and out of that love... you will create the possibility where the new can arrive. If you die afraid, the...

... new will not arrive. You will simply die. That's why Jesus says: FOR MY SAKE - let me be the bridge. FOR WHAT IS A MAN ADVANTAGED, IF HE GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND LOSE HIMSELF, OR BE CAST AWAY? And remember, you can gain the whole world and lose yourself - as people are doing all over the world, throughout time: gaining the world and losing themselves. Then one day they suddenly find that all they...

.... Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. MORE FRAIL AND ILLUSORY THAN NUMBERS WRITTEN ON WATER, OUR SEEKING FROM THE BUDDHA FELICITY IN THE AFTER-WORLD. ALREADY, OVER THE HEART NOT A CLOUD IS HANGING, AND NO MOUNTAIN IS THERE FOR THE MOON TO HIDE BEHIND. IN OUR WAY THROUGH THIS WORLD OF BIRTH AND DEATH, WE HAVE NO COMPANION; LONELY WE DIE, ALONE WE ARE BORN. THE VAST FLOOD ROLLS ONWARD BUT YIELD YOURSELF...

... allow all your senses to become aflame. Then the heart starts living. Then the lotus of the heart opens and there is never any confusion. IN OUR WAY THROUGH THIS WORLD OF BIRTH AND DEATH, WE HAVE NO COMPANION; LONELY WE DIE, ALONE WE ARE BORN. DON'T GET LOST too much in the world of relationship, because all relationship is dreaming. Remember your utter aloneness. LONELY WE DIE, ALONE WE ARE BORN. And...

... their theories, in their expectations, go on missing. MORE FRAIL AND ILLUSORY THAN NUMBERS WRITTEN ON WATER, OUR SEEKING FROM THE BUDDHA FELICITY IN THE AFTER-WORLD. ALREADY, OVER THE HEART NOT A CLOUD IS HANGING, AND NO MOUNTAIN IS THERE FOR THE MOON TO HIDE BEHIND. IN OUR WAY THROUGH THIS WORLD OF BIRTH AND DEATH, WE HAVE NO COMPANION; LONELY WE DIE, ALONE WE ARE BORN. THE VAST FLOOD ROLLS ONWARD...

... will die in habits. And because of these habits you will miss real life. Real life consists of freedom. And once you know that you are free then there is no obsession to choose this or that. You can choose NOT to choose. That state is called Buddhahood. MORE FRAIL AND ILLUSORY THAN NUMBERS WRITTEN ON WATER, OUR SEEKING FROM THE BUDDHA FELICITY IN THE AFTER-WORLD. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT SUTRA. Go slowly...

... would like to be awake? You have to be made alert about your sadness, about your hell. You have to be made aware of your death, of your illness. You have to be made aware of all the agonies that you have passed through and you are passing through and you will have to pass through. This whole thing has to be emphasized. I have heard: A Broadway producer decided he was fed up with the extravagant...

... moment - they still ask about the after-life. They want to have some felicity in the after-world. They are not interested in being awakened herenow, they are interested in making some beautiful world after death. Buddha is interested absolutely in the herenow. He wants you to be awake herenow. But you go to him and ask, "Is the soul immortal? Will I live after death? What will happen after death...

...? What happens after death? Where do people go? And Buddha used to laugh at all these questions and he would simply put them all aside. In fact this was his usual way: whenever he would enter a town his disciples would go around the town declaring to each and everybody, "DON'T ask these eleven questions." And these eleven questions were all questions of metaphysics: the afterlife, God, heaven...

..., hell, karma - all that kind of garbage. Buddha used to say: Just ask about the immediate, that which is the question right now. Let me become the answer for that. People DON'T want to ask that, they want to avoid it. You are in misery and you ask, "What will happen after death?" People come to me too; they say, "What will happen after death?" I say, "First see what is...

... happening before death." They are not interested in that. Before death? Who bothers about before death? The real question is after death. If you can't see what is happening now, and you DON'T want to see it, the story is going to be the same later on too. Somebody has asked, "This question has been pursuing me from my very childhood: how does the stone feel inside? Inside the stone, how is it...