Chapter 15
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Discipline of Suess6 August 1970 pm in Bombay, India
Question 1
OSHO, YOU HAVE SAID BEFORE THAT IF A SEEKER IN HIS EXPERIMENT SHOULD MAKE AN INTENSE RESOLVE THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO DIE, THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO RETURN TO HIS OWER, IN A FEW DAYS HIS LIFE ENERGY WILL BEGIN TO TRACT FROM WITHIN AND THE SEEKER WILL BE ABLE TO SEE HIS BODY AS DEAD -- FIRST FROM WITHIN, AND THEN FROM WITHOUT.
SEQUENTLY, HIS FEAR OF DEATH WILL DISAPPEAR FOREVER.
SO THE QUESTION IS: IN THIS DITION, DOES OO MAKE ANY SPECIAL PREPARATION OR TAKE ARA PRECAUTION SO THAT THE SUBTLE BODY MAY RETURN SAFELY TO THE PHYSICAL BODY? OR, DOES THE RETURN OF THE SUBTLE BODY HAPPEN ON ITS OWN? PLEASE EXPLAIN.
In many ways, man lives essentially through the mind.
Even when we perceive something as a physical occurrence, deep down it turns out to be a psychological phenomenon.
All bodily maions have their roots in the mind.
Let me explain a few things in this regard, then it will be easy to follow the question.
Until fifty years ago, all human illnesses were treated as illnesses of the body.
In the last fifty years, the more we have learned about illhe more the proportion of physical illnesses has decreased while that of the psychological illnesses has increased.
Even the greatest of physiologists is ready to admit today that more than fifty pert of all human ailments are psychological.
Siesses which are otherwise sidered as physical, more than half of them are caused by the mind.
Mind is the very substratum of mans being, his existence.
It is the source of our life, it is the source of our illness, and it is the very source of our death.
Thats why so much importance is given to the will.
If you have ever witnessed an experiment in hypnosis, there are a few things about it worth keeping in mind.
A hypnotized person is simply one whose sind is asleep and whose unsind is awake.
When the sind goes to sleep, the person stops doubting, because all doubts and misgivings are limited to the sind.
If we divide the human mind into ten parts, it will appear that one part of it is scious while the remaining nine are unscious.
Nine parts are in the dark unscious; only a small portion -- oh of the mind -- is awake.
It is this sind that doubts, thinks, ponders.
If this sio sleep, then the remaining nine parts below would stay totally receptive.
There, no questions are asked, no doubts are raised.
Iate of hypnosis, the doubting mind is put to sleep and the undoubting, receptive mind es into effect.
In that state, if you were to place a small piece of ro the hand of the hypnotized person and tell him it is a hot coal, he will cry out in pain as if his hand had been burned.
He will at ohrow the rock away -- just as he would if a real hot coal had been placed on his hand.
Up to this point one may assume that just an idea in his mind must have caused this to happen.
But the astonishing thing is that blisters appear on his hand -- the same as it would have if a hot coal had been placed there.
So apparently, although you had placed an ordinary piece of rock, the persons mind totally accepted your word that it was a hot coal.
And the body has no means of denying the mind, so it acts accly.
Remember well, if the mind accepts totally, the body will have to follow it.
There is a reverse of this experiment too, which is even more astonishing.
You pla ember in the hypnotized persons hand and tell him it is just a cold pebble.
The man will keep on holding the ember a no blisters will appear on his hand.
Without the minds permission, the body is helpless to do anything.
That is why fakirs are able to dance barefoot on fire -- there is no miracle in it.
Its just a little experiment in the sind.
There are ten fakirs dang on the fire, they openly invite ao join them, so there is no question of any fraud.
You are wele to dah them.
But that will be possible only when watg those ten people you bee fully vihe fire is not affeg them.
Once you are vinced -- that if they are not having burns, you woher -- you reach the same state a hypnotized person does.
In that state, the one part of your mind is not doubting, and the nine parts are believing -- now you jump into the fire, your feet wont burn.
One who has any doubts will not jump, but the one who has none will jump in.
What this means is that even fire ot burn you if the mind is not open to it, and even ess cause burns if the mind is ready for it.
Experiments in hypnosis reveal very profound truths about the mind.
For example, I was once dug experiments in hypnosis on a girl.
I was a guest in her house.
We were sitting in a room.
Altogether we were ten people: the girl, myself, a other people including her mother, who was seated right across from her.
When I placed the girl under hypnosis, I told her that her mother had left the room.
Then I asked her to open her eyes and t the number of people present in the room.
She ted nine because for her, the mother who was sitting across on the sofa did .
I asked her several times who was sitting on the sofa and her answer was, "The sofa is empty.
" Her mother called out to her.
She looked all around the room -- except at the sofa where her mother was sitting -- to see where her voice came from.
As far as she was ed, the mother was not seated on the sofa.
Once again I asked her to close her eyes and told her that her father, who was not in the room, had e and was sitting across from her on the sofa.
Then I asked her to open her eyes and t the number of people in the room.
She ted ten.
I asked, "You had said earlier the sofa across from you was empty; why are you ting it now?" She said, "The sofa is y, father is sitting on it.
" Her mother, who was actually sitting on the sofa, did for her.
But her father who was not even in the room -- she ted him.
Her mind had totally accepted my word.
A resolute mind holds wonderful possibilities.
For those who face mas in their lives, the readiness of their mind to accept defeat is far more responsible than the circumstances.
The world as such has very little to do with the failures met by people -- y pert of the responsibility lies with the people themselves.
When one is y pert ready to enter failure, it would be a little too much if the world didnt cooperate even ten pert with it -- the world makes a ten pert tribution.
The same principle applies to those who go on attaining success as it does to those who meet with failures.
Those who are healthy and those who remain mostly sick, those eaceful and those who are tinuously restless -- all are subject to the same principle.
Deep down, whatsoever you want to be thats what you bee.
Thoughts bee objects, thoughts bee happenings, thoughts create your personality.
Essentially, we alone are responsible for the way we live, and the level at which we live.
We alone lay the foundation of the life we live.
Ohis truth is uood, what I am explaining to you will bee clear.
I have already mentioo you that as long as one has ered death voluntarily, he ot be free from the fear of death.
Someday death will e, of course, but then you woering into it voluntarily -- you will be pelled to face it.
It wouldnt be surprising if you closed your eyes and became unscious when forced to go somewhere.
You t be forced into something if you are fully scious.
But there is no need for oo be under supulsion.
Dying voluntarily, one see death even while being alive.
Watg such a death is a fasating experience -- far more fasating than the experience of ordinary death, because this death is seen of your own free will.
You may ask, however, "How one die voluntarily and see death?"
This also o be uood.
Two kinds of meisms are w in your life, in your body -- one is voluntary, the other is involuntary.
There are some parts in your body which move only with your willingness.
For example, my hand moves only when I want it to; it wont move if I dont want it to move.
But the blood ihis hand does not flow acc to my desire; it wont stop flowing if I dont want it to.
So the w of the blood is involuntary.
The same is the case with the throbbing of my heart, the beating of my pulse, the food digesting in my stomach -- none of these funs follow my and, they are involuntary.
So our biological anism sists of two parts: ohat works acc to our desire, and the other which works indepe of our desire.
However, if oo increase his willpower, what is outside the realm of desire now would bee part of it.
Similarly, if ones willpower were to decrease, what is now within the reach of his desire would be no longer.
The paralytidition is a case in point.
More thay pert of all cases of paralysis are psychological in nature.
Actually it is not that a man is struck with paralysis; only his legs, for instance, go beyond the trol of his willpower.
Even this is nht to say.
How legs mao get out of ones trol? Truly speaking, the range, or the scope of his willpower bees narrow.
What it means is the will of such a person has shrunk.
It is as though as ones feet are stig out from underh a shrunken bla.
The feet remain beyond the reach of the bla.
Similarly, the willpower of a paralytic person shrinks, and loses its trol over the limbs.
It has occurred many times; for example, once a house caught fire at night and the people inside came running out.
But they suddenly remembered that the old man who had been paralyzed and sick for years had bee behind.
Before they could figure out how to rescue the man, they saw him e running out of the house.
They were shocked and frightened.
They fot all about the fire and asked him, "How did you e out? How did you mao walk?" The moment they asked how he mao walk, the man said, "Are you joking? How I walk?" And he fell down.
Iress and fear caused by the fire, the circumference of the mans willprew larger -- the feet came within reach of the bla -- and the man walked out.
Having e out, he suddenly realized: how could he really have walked out? And the scope of his willpower once again became narrow, the feet once again were out from uhe bla!
The pulse rate be brought under voluntary trol.
This is not a feat that only yogis perform -- you too.
Its a very small experiment.
Check your pulse rate for a minute.
Then close your eyes and simply feel that your pulse is beating faster.
Open your eyes after ten minutes and check.
Youll rarely e across a man whose pulse rate will not increase if he does this experiment.
Thats why when the doctor checks your pulse, it is he same.
The momeouches you, you bee a bit anxious, and that causes the pulse rate to increase.
This is even more true if you are being checked by a lady doctor!
The heartbeat be trolled too -- almost to the point of stopping it.
Stific experiments have been carried out to this effed the fact has been accepted.
About forty years ago, a man by the name of Brahmayogi astounded doctors at the Bombay Medical College by stopping his heartbeat pletely.
He repeated the same act at Oxford, and later at Calcutta Uy.
This man could do three things.
Firstly, he could stop the blood circulation pletely -- not only could he stop it, but he could trol its flow as well.
He could let it run or withhold its movement at will.
When he would stop the circulation, not a drop of blood would e out evehe vein was cut.
The third thing he could do was to take in any kind of poison aain it in his stomach for half an hour, after which he would throw it out of his system.
However, this experiment finally caused his death later on.
Many X-rays were taken while the poison was still inside his stomach.
No gastric juices, no blood released and mixed with the poison.
They remained separate until he allowed them to mix.
The man died in Rangoon.
After having performed the act of taking poison at the Rangoon Uy, he was driven home in a car.
The car got into an act, and by the time he reached home forty-five minutes had passed since he took the poison.
He could withhold the mixing of the poison for not more than thirty minutes.
So he reached home unscious.
He could just mao keep the poison out during the thirty-minute range of his willpower -- his practice was limited to thirty minutes only.
He crossed that limit.
For the fifteen mihe poison was able to pee the limits of his will and mix into his internal system.
There is no part in our body which ot be brought within the power of our will, and there is no part which ot go outside this power either.
Both things happen.
Enterih voluntarily is a deeper experiment.
Its an experiment where one tracts his life energy at will.
What o be kept in mind is: if the will is applied totally, the energy is bound to shrink within.
It t be otherwise.
Actually, the way our life energy has spread out is a result of our will too.
For example, we think we are able to see because we have eyes.
Acc to the stists, the reverse is the case: because we want to see through this part of our body, the eyes have appeared there.
Otherwise, there is basically no differeween the skin of our eyes and that of our hands.
The eye is formed of skin as well, except that it has bee transparent.
The same skin is in the nose, only it has bee specialized in pig up smells.
The same principle that made the skin of the eyes transparent made the skin of the nose sensitive to smell.
Similar is the case with regard to our ears, except they have bee capable of pig up sound.
All this has happened as an effect of our will -- the collective will asserted over millions upon millions of years.
It has not e about as a sequence of an individuals will; the same will was exercised geion after geion, and it showed the result.
There is a woman in Russia who read with her fingers -- not Braille, the language for the blind -- she reads any ordinary book, with closed eyes, just by plag her fingers on the printed letters.
As a result of the lifelong practice, her fingers have bee so sensitive that they detect the infinitesimal differeween the print and the blank paper.
Our fingers wont be able to do this to su extent.
When we look at a tree, we only see the creen, while a painters eyes see a thousand kinds of green trees having shades of green blended in a thousand ways.
So whereas green is just one color for an ordinary person, in the eyes of a paihe creen is not o many colors of the same kind.
To him, the differeween one green and another is as obvious as it is between green and yellow, or between green and red.
However, one needs a certain kind of sensitivity in order to see such fine shades.
Obviously, people ordinarily dont possess such sensitivity.
A musi is able to catch subtle nuances in music which we ot.
Not only is he able to catch the nuances, he even begins to experiehe gap, the emptiness betweewo notes.
The real music is not born of sound, rather it springs from the moments of sileiween the sounds.
The notes oher side merely do the job of projeg that silehats all.
But people have no idea of this silence; for them music is no more than noise.
For a master musi, the words, or the notes have no direct bearing upon the music.
To him the musiotes merely serve the purpose of emphasizing the state of no-sound that exists iween.
So whatever we practice tinuously, whatever we resolve persistently, begins to ma, show results.
The way human beings, birds, animals, plants live, is determined by their will.
Whatever we resolve deeply is what we bee.
There is a signifit at in the life of Ramakrishna.
In his life Ramakrishna had practiced six or seven spiritual disciplines of different religions.
He felt that if all religioo the same place, why not follow their methods and verify this truth? So he underwent the disciplines of the Christians, the Sufis, the Vaishnavas, the Shaivites, the Tantrikas, and so on.
Whatever method he could lay his hands oried.
However, no one knew what he was doing, because these disciplines were practiced on the inner plane.
Outwardly, no one could know what was going on with Ramakrishna.
For instance, how could one figure out from the outside what was happening inside him when he followed the discipline of the Sufis? And he himself never mentioned a word about what he was involved in.
heless, in the course of these practices he went through a certain discipline which produced sucredible results that even people from outside could not miss what was happening to him.
There is a se Bengal called the sakhi-sampradaya.
In this sect, the seeker looks upon himself as Krishnas beloved or wife.
He begins to live like Krishnas girlfriend.
Whether the seeker is a male or a female doesnt matter.
To the followers of this sect, Krishna is the only man; the seeker bees his beloved, his Radha, his girlfriend.
For six months Ramakrishna practiced the discipline of this sect, and strangely enough, the tone of his voice became feminine.
No one could distinguish his voice from a distance.
His gait became feminine.
Actually, men and women ot walk alike; their biological structure is basically different.
Sihe woman carries a child, she has a special pla her abdomen for that purpose -- which is not the case with men.
Heh walk differently.
No matter how carefully a woman may take her steps, she ever walk like a man.
She ever run like a man does -- there is no way; their physical make-up is different.
But Ramakrishna began running like a woman, he began walking like a woman; his gestures, his voice, took on a feminine quality.
One could explain away all these ges by assuming that any man with some effort walk or talk like a woman.
The astonishing thing, however, was that his breasts developed and became womanlike.
Even this too, one rationalize by pointing out that many men grow breasts in their old age.
But the most incredible thing was that Ramakrishna began to have a regular menstrual period in much the same way as a woman does.
For medical sce, this phenomenon caused great i and .
After having practiced the discipline for six months, it took a year and a half for Ramakrishna to recover from its impad e back to his normal state.
Just by exerg his will power Ramakrishna assumed he was the girlfriend of Krishna, and his personality ged accly.
In Europe, stigmata appear on the hands of many Christian monks.
Stigmata are
When Jesus was crucified, nails were driven into his palms and the blood came out.
So there are many Christian monks who, following the m of Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified, identify themselves with Jesus.
They bee oh Jesus.
As the hour of crucifixion approaches, thousands of people gather to watch them.
The monks stand with their arms outspread as if they are tied to the cross.
And, as if nails have been driven into their hands, holes appear in their palms and blood begins to flow.
With such resolve do they bee identified with Jesus that, as it were, they gh an actual crucifixion.
Without any means being used, a hole being made, a nail being driven, the blood begins to flow from their hands.
We are not aware of the immense possibilities in which willpower be effective.
Enterih voluntarily is the most profound of all experiments in exerg ones will.
Ordinarily it is not difficult to make a resolve in favor of life -- we indeed want to live.
But it is very difficult to make use of will for the sake of experieng death.
Those who really want to know the full meaning of life should have an experience of death at least once.
Without having seen what death is like, they ever really know what life is worth.
Thats the only way to realize that they have something of immense value -- the elixir of life -- which they know only by passing through the experience of death.
One who ot gh this experience remains sadly deprived, because if he could see on his own what death is like, the fear of death would no longer exist for him; then there is h at all.
Simply using your total willpower you draw your sciousness inside from all parts of your body.
You close your eyes ahat the sciousness is shrinking inward.
You feel the energy moving away from your hands aowards the inside.
You see the energy moving down from your head.
The energy begins to verge upon the ter from where it inated -- the rays begin to withdraw from all points.
If this experiment is carried on with an intense feeling, in an instant the whole body bees dead; only one point remains inside, alive.
The entire body bees lifeless, while the inner core remains alive like a flame.
This livier ow be experienced very well as something separate from the body.
It is as though rays of light were spread out in pitch darkness and it was impossible to differentiate between the light and the darkness, and then all the rays were to withdraw and e ba at one point -- the trast between the darkness and light would bee clearly apparent.
So wheal energy inside us withdraws and bees de a certain point, one begins to feel the entire body separate from that point.
Now all you need is a little willpower and it will be out of the body.
Then just think of going out of the body, and you will be out of your body.
Now you see the body from outside, lying like a corpse.
A thin silver cord will still keep you ected with the navel of your body, however.
This is the very passage foing in and out of the body.
You will be amazed to see that as soon as this substahis densed energy es out of the body, it assumes a new form of its own -- that it enlarges and bees a new body.
This is the subtle body.
It is a duplicate of the physical body, except that its like a fuzzy film, transparent.
If anyoo touch this body, his hand would pass through without affeg it.
So the first principle in the discipline of operating the will is to pull all the life energy inward at one point.
The moment this energy bees de the inner core, it jumps out of the body.
Just a desire to e out of the body, and the phenomenon occurs.
And again, just a desire to get bato the body, and it is ba.
This does not involve any doing on your part.
The only thing that requires any a is that of simply drawing all the energy i a certain point.
Ohat happens, your subtle body easily get out of the physical body a ba.
If the seeker goes through this experience, his entire life is transformed instantly.
Then what he had known as life until that moment, he will no longer be able to call it the same.
Similarly, he will not look upoh the way he did until then.
He will find it a little difficult to run after the things he chased in the past.
It will be hard for him to fight for things as he used to.
He will no longer be able to ighings he ignored previously.
The life is bound to ge, because it is the kind of experience which ever leave the life just the way it was.
Therefore, every seeker of meditation must at some time or h the out-of-the-body experience.
Its an essential step, whice haviaken brings about incredible sequences for his future.
Its not difficult, only a firm resolve is required.
Making a firm resolve is hard, not the teique itself.
Hes a little difficult to jump directly into this experiment.
One needs first to begin experimenting with smaller resolutions.
As one succeeds in these, his willpoes on increasing.
Actually, the variious practices in the world are nious practices really.
They are, in fact, preparatory to building ones resolve.
For example, a man fasts for three days -- this is simply a discipline for strengthening ones willpower.
Fasting in itself is of little advahe real gain lies in the fact that he pleted his vow, that he maintained his resolve.
Another man declares solemnly that he would stand in one place for twelve hours.
Now his standing for twelve hours is of no use; the actual be es from his making that resolve and the pletion of it.
By and by, people fot the basic idea that these teiques were meant for strengthening ones determination.
The man thinks standing in itself is enough, so he tio stand.
He loses sight of the fact that simply standing there is purposeless.
The basic idea is to exercise the inner firmness which decides to stand, and then stig to that decision.
Any means be used in order to fulfill ones determination.
Even small resolves do -- o make big resolutions.
For example, a man may stand in this baly and resolve not to look below for six hours; even this much will do.
The question is not that the man will gain something by not looking downward.
The question is that he determined something a on to fulfill it.
Wheermio do something and does it, his energy within bees stronger; he bees more and more tered.
He no longer feels like a leaf drifting in the air.
A sort of crystallization begins to take place within him.
For the first time, some foundations are laid in his life.
So one should begin experimenting with smaller resolves, and this way collect the energy within.
We e across lots of opportuo do so.
For example, while driving along the road simply make a resolve that you will not read the billboards.
Your doing so is obviously not going to harm anyone, but its an opportunity to exercise your will.
And no one o know about it -- its your own inner process.
You will find that with this resolve, sitting in the car even for half an hour did not prove to be worthless.
You will e out with the feeling that you have gained something, that you are richer than you were a half ho.
So the question is not where you experiment, or what means are used for that purpose.
I just gave you an example.
The point is, you may follow any experiment that will help you strengthen your will-power.
It would be good if you carried on with the small ones.
If a man is asked to go iation for forty minutes by simply closing his eyes, he t do it; he opens his eyes frequently and looks around.
Now this man is without a will, he is not tered.
There are great advantages in closing the eyes, it causes no harm.
But this man t even hold to his resolve by keeping his eyes closed for forty minutes; not much else be expected of him.
When the same man is asked to breathe deeply and vigorously for ten minutes, within two minutes he slows down his breathing.
When you remind him to take deep breaths, he makes one or two feeble attempts and again goes back to slow breathing.
This man is not tered at all.
Breathing ten minutes deeply is not a very difficult thing to do.
And actually the question is not what will be gained or lost by breathing deeply for ten minutes.
What is certain, however, is that by resolving to breathe deeply for ten mihis man will bee tered.
Something inside him will bee crystallized.
He will overe something, he will succeed in breaking some kind of resistance w inside him.
And his vagrant mind will be weakened, because it will e to realize there is no way to push the man around: the only way to get along with him is to obey.
You drive by every day.
Maybe you dohe billboards along the road.
But the day you will decide not to read them, your mind will do its utmost to force you to read the advertisements.
The power of mind lies in your being irresolute.
As your determination grows, the mind goes dead.
The strohe will, the more dead is the mind.
The strohe mind, the weaker bees the will.
The mind did not press you to look at the billboards in the past because you had not challe.
Today you posed the challenge.
The mind will find a thousand and one excuses for you to look outside.
It will trive a thousand ways to force you to break your resolve ahe signs.
It will use all its ing.
This is how things are.
We only live by the mind.
A seeker begins to live by his will.
One who lives by the mind is not a seeker at all.
Only one who lives by his resolve is a true seeker indeed.
A seeker means one whose mind is being transformed into will.
So pick very small situations -- you choose for yourself -- and then experiment a few times during <var></var>the day.
No one o know about it, but there is o go into isolatioher.
Just do the experiment quietly and move along.
For example, make a small resolve that "When someone bees angry at me, I will laugh it off.
" When carried out a number of times, each experiment will yield such rich dividends that you will thank the person who became angry at you.
So make this tiny resolve: "Whenever as angry at me, Ill simply laugh, no matter what.
" Within fifteen days youll find you have bee a different person.
The whole quality of your being has ged -- you are no lohe same man who lived fifteen days ago.
Make very small decisions and try to live up to them.
In the process of living the decisions, when you bee fident of making bigger decisions, then go ahead and make a little higher resolutions.
The final resolution a seeker should find worth making is that of meetih voluntarily.
The day you feel you , go ahead and do it.
Haviermihe day you see your body lying like a corpse, you will know all that there is to know.
Then no scripture in the world, no guru will have anythio add to it.
Question 2
ONE WHO ITS SUICIDE ALSO TRIES TO KILL HIMSELF VOLUNTARILY.
AND UNTIL HE IS DEAD PLETELY, HE REMAINS AWARE OF THE PROCESS OF DYING TOO: THAT THE BODY IS BEING COLD, OR THE LIFE ENERGY IS SHRINKING, AND SO ON.
BUT HE OT E BA THE BODY AFTER HAVING REACHED THE FINAL STATE.
ISNT SUICIDE SIMILAR TO THE EXPERIMENT IN VOLUNTARY DEATH?
Suicide be used as an experiment in willpower, but normally people who it suicide dont do it for that reason.
Ordinarily, the man who its suicide does not do it feeling himself responsible for it.
Mostly he feels people are driving him to it suicide; certain circumstances, certais are pelling him to end his life.
If the circumstances were not such, he would not have attempted the suicide.
This man, for instance, was in love with someone, but his love was not returned.
Now he wants to end his life.
Had his love been reciprocated, there would have been no need for him to embrace death.
In fact, this man who is plating suicide is not doing so with any readio die really.
He is willing to live only on one dition.
Sihe dition has not been fulfilled, hehe denial of life.
The man is not ied in dying actually; the truth is, he has lost i in living.
So basically this kind of suicide is a forced one.
Therefore, if a person who is about to end his life be stopped even for two seds, perhaps he will not attempt it the sed time.
Just the delay of a couple of moments be enough, because in those moments his mental resolve will fall apart -- it ut together forcibly.
A man itting suicide is not making a resolve.
The fact is he is running away from making the resolve.
Ordinarily, a man who has killed himself is not a brave man; he is a coward.
Actually, life was asking him to exercise his will; it was telling him, "The woman you loved before
.
now make a resolve and fet her.
" But the man didnt have the capacity.
Life ointing out to him: "Fet the person you loved before, love someone else.
" But the man didnt have the guts.
Life tells someone, "You were ritil yesterday, today you are bankrupt.
heless, live!" He doesnt have the ce.
He is not able to make a determination and live.
He sees only one way out: self-destru.
He does this in order to avoid making firm resolves.
Meetih like this is not a demonstration of his positive will; rather, it is a show of his ive will.
A ive will is of no use.
Such a man will be born with an even weaker soul in his life -- with a much more impotent soul than the one he had in this life, because he escaped from a situation that had offered him an opportunity to arouse his will.
It is as if a child runs away from his class as the examination hour approaches.
In a way, he has shown his determination too.
Thirty students were taking the exam, but this fellow decided to run away.
This indicates a ive will.
The will to appear for the exam ositive o meant willio put up a struggle.
But the boy escaped from the struggle.
An escapist shows his determination too.
When a man fronted by a lion runs and climbs up a tree, in a way he also uses his will.
But that wont necessarily make him a man of will, because after all, he is running away, he is esg.
A suicidal tendency is essentially an escapist tendency.
There is no resolve in it.
Death be used, of course, for the purpose of exerg willpower -- but thats a different matter.
For example, in the Jaina traditioh has also beethen willpower.
Mahavira is the only person in the world who allowed if any seeker wished to use death for this purpose.
No one else has given such permission.
Only Mahavira has said one use death as a spiritual discipline -- but not the kind of instantaneous death which occurs by taking poison.
One t build his willpower in one instant; it requires a long span of time.
Mahavira says, "Go on a fast, and die of hunger.
"
It takes y days for a normal, healthy man to die of hunger.
If he is weak in his resolve -- even a little bit -- the desire for food will return the very day.
By the third day he will begin cursing at having created such a nuisance for himself, and will start finding ways to get out of it.
It is very difficult to maintain the desire to stay hungry for y days.
When Mahavira said, "Stay hungry and die," there was no room for ao create aion, because in y days
.
anyone who has even the slightest lack of will would escape much earlier in the process.
So there is no way to deceive.
If Mahavira had given the permission to die by taking poison, drowning in a river, jumping off a mountain, it would have been a matter of instah.
Of course, we all mao make a resolve good enough for one moment.
But a warriood for showing only a moments bravery is of no use otlefield, because he will bee a coward the moment.
He will turn out to be a coward with as much resolve as he was brave a moment ago.
So Mahavira has given permission to it santhara, causih to oneself as a spiritual discipline.
If anyone wished to put himself through a final test, even if it meaih voluntarily, Mahavira had given permission for it.
This is truly very signifit and wiving a thought.
Mahavira is the first person on this earth who has authorized that a seeker follow this discipline.
There are a couple of reasons for it.
For ohing, Mahavira was fully assured that no one dies really.
Hence he felt there was o worry so much about death, and he found no harm in a seeker pursuing this discipline.
Sedly, besides being experienced himself, Mahavira was also fident that if a mao seek death unwaveringly for fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, y, or a hundred days, the very greatness of that event is bound to transform him.
We all experience a moment or two whehought of death crosses our mind.
There is hardly a person in the world who has not wished to die at least a few times during his life.
Of course, that he didnt die is a different matter.
The fact is, suents do e when a man wishes to die.
But theakes a cup of tea and fets the whole thing.
The wife gets fed up with her husband and plates hanging herself.
Then the husband es home with tickets for the movie.
Thats it, the woman drops the whole idea.
She finds it to.
Once I had an occasion to stay at a place where a Bengali professor and his wife were my -door neighbors.
The very first night of my stay I heard loud noises ing from the other side.
There was a terrible fight going oween the husband and wife.
I could hear everything through the wall.
The husband was threatening to kill himself.
I was in a quandary.
There was no one else around except me, and things looked rather serious.
I wondered whether I should go over and help.
Although it was the first night and the couple were total strao me, I felt it didnt matter if we knew each other or not.
I said to myself, "They are my neighbors; Ill be responsible too if the man dies.
" heless, I restrained myself in the hope that when the man would actually walk out to kill himself I would go and stop him.
Then for some time all was quiet.
I thought the matter was settled betweewo and that both had cooled down.
But still I felt I should go out and see what was going on.
So I came out.
The door o my room en and the wife was sitting inside.
The fellow had already gone.
I asked her, "Where did your husband go?"
She said, "Dont be worried, he has gone away like this many times before; hell be back soon.
"
I said, "But he has goo kill himself!"
She said, "You need not be worried, he is sure to e back.
"
And indeed, about fifteen minutes later the husbaurned.
I was still waiting outside.
I said to him, "You have e back?" He was unaware that I knew he had goo it suicide.
He said, "t you see the clouds have gathered? Looks like its going to rain.
I had not taken an umbrella with me, so I came back.
" A man wanting to kill himself drops the idea if he is without an umbrella! This is how it is.
We all think of dying many times, but not for the sake of dying really.
The idea es to us because there is some problem in our life.
We think of ending our lives because we lack resolution.
Just a little trouble, a little difficulty, and one rushes to end it all.
One who wants to meet death because he t face the problems of life is not a man of will.
However, if a mas out to have a direct, positive experience of death, if he is on his way to know what death is with a positive attitude, if he has no flict with life, if he is not against life, then even ih this man is searg for life.
This is a totally different thing.
There is yet annifit factor involved in this matter.
Ordinarily, we ot determine our birth.
Although ultimately we do influence birth, but our determination of it happens through our unscious state.
We never knoe will be born, where we will be born, and for urpose we will be born.
But death, in a way, is something which be determined by us.
Death is a very unusual event in life, its a very decisive happening.
Nothing be clearly determined by us as far as birth is ed -- that is, where to take birth, the purpose of taking birth, the circumstances surrounding the birth, and so on.
But about death we certainly decide how we are going to die, where we are going to die, why we are going to die.
We definitely determihe ant to die.
So Mahavira had given permission to follow the discipline of death for this reason<samp>?.</samp> also, that one who will die applying this method will automatically bee the determiner of his birth as well, because one who has mao choose his death, who has arrao die voluntarily, for him nature provides an opportunity to choose his birth too.
This is the other side of it.
If os from the gate of life with dignity and grandeur, in full knowledge, theher gates will bee wide open and wele him with high regard and honor too.
So those who wish to determiheir lives should first gh death with their own willingness.
This was also the reason why Mahavira gave his permission.
So the point is, an ordinary man wanting to it suicide is not a man of will.
Question 3
YOU HAVE TALKED ABOUT HOW THE SUBTLE BODY BE SEPARATED FROM THE PHYSICAL BODY USING ONES WILLPOWER.
THE SUBTLE BODY OF A SEEKER WHO FOLLOWS THE DISCIPLINE OF WITNESSING, OR THAT OF A SEEKER WHO FOLLOWS THE DISCIPLINE OF TATHATA, SUESS, BE SEPARATED WITHOUT EXERG THE WILL?
To follow the discipline of witnessing requires a great resolve.
Following the discipline of tathata requires eveer resolve.
It is the greatest resolution ever.
When a maermio live like a witness, that in itself is a great resolution.
For example, a man decides he will .
He resolves to remain hungry for the day.
Another man decides he will eat, but instead of watg himself eat, he will eat watchfully.
This is a more difficult resol<dfn></dfn>ution.
It is not too difficult to give up food.
The truth is, for those who have plenty to eat, it is easy to go without food for a day or two.
Thats why in an affluent society the cults of dieting and fasting bee popular.
For example, in America the idea of dieting has bee very popular.
People immediately bee attracted to naturopathy.
When people have enough to eat, the idea of fasting on a while appeals to them.
It seems to make one feel lighter and more cheerful.
In fa a poor society, staying hungry may be a kind of use of ones willpower.
But in an affluent society its a matter of venience.
Actually, if food bees suffitly available throughout the world, fasting will turn out to be a y for everyone.
People will have to remain with empty stomachs on a while.
But witnessing is a very difficult thing.
Lets uand it this way.
For instance, you make a decision that you wont walk, that you will remaied in the same chair fht hours.
Now this is not a big thing.
You decided not to walk, so you are not walking.
Someone else decides he will walk fht hours -- this is not a big thiher, because since he decided to walk, he is walking.
But witnessing means youll walk, and at the same time you will also know that you are not walking.
What does witnessing mean? It means youll walk as well as know that it is not you who is walking -- that you are simply witnessing the act of walking.
This is a much more subtle resolution, a supreme resolution indeed.
Tathata, suess, is the suprememost resolution; its the ultimate resolve.
There is ermination higher than this.
Even the resolve to enter death voluntarily is not so great a resolve really.
Tathata means accepting things as they are.
In a way, even the resolve to die voluntarily has its roots somewhere in noance.
That is, we want to know what death is; we want to verify whether death actually occurs or not.
Tathata means, if death appears we will die; if life remains well tio live.
her are we ed with life, nor with death.
If darkness falls well stay in the dark; if the light appears well settle with light.
If something good es to us well receive it; if something bad befalls us well bear it.
Whatsoever happens, we are willing to accept it -- we deny nothing.
Let me explain this to you with an example.
Diogenes assing through a forest.
He walked around naked -- had a beautiful body.
It seems quite possible man must have started wearing clothes in order to cover his ugliness.
This seems highly possible.
We are always ied in hiding the ugly parts of our body.
But this man Diogenes was a very handsome man.
He lived naked.
So as he assing through the forest, four men engaged in the business of capturing and selling slaves, saw him.
They figured if they could capture this man -- good looking, strong, powerful -- they may receive a good price for him.
But they felt very apprehensive and couldnt find any way to capture him without risking their lives.
Somehow, they tried and mao surround him.
Diogeood in the middle, calm and uurbed.
He asked, "What do you want to do?" The men were very surprised.
They took out s.
Diogeretched out his hands.
Full of fear and with trembling hands, the captors began to him.
Diogenes said, "o tremble.
e, let me tie the s for you.
" He helped them put on the s.
The men were simply flabbergasted.
After having ed him firmly, they said, "What sort of a man are you? utting you in s and you are helping us! We were afraid this might lead to some fighting and trouble.
"
Diogenes said, "You are having fun ing me, I am having fun in being ed.
Where is the need for any trouble? Its great! Now tell me, where do we go from here?"
The men said, "We feel very embarrassed in telling you that we are in the business of slavery.
Well now take you to the marketplad put you up for sale.
"
Diogenes said, "Good, lets go.
" He took off with great excitement and began walking even faster than the captors.
They said, "Please slow down a little.
Whats the hurry?"
Diogenes said, "Now that we are going to the marketplace, why not rea time?"
So finally they reached the marketplace.
It was very crowded.
Those who had e to buy slaves turheir eyes toward Diogenes.
They had rarely seen a slave of this quality, because he looked more like an emperor.
A huge crowd gathered around him.
He was made to stand on the platform where the slaves were aued.
Raising his voice, the aueer said, "Here is a slave for sale.
e forward and name your price.
"
Diogenes said, "Shut up, you fool! Ask these men, did I walk in front, or did they? Did they tie the s on me or did I let them tie the s on me?"
His captors said, "The man is right.
Left to ourselves, we dont believe we could have captured him.
And indeed he walked ahead of us so fast that we could not keep pace with him -- we had to practically run behind him.
So it is not correct to say we have brought him to the marketplace.
The truth is, we have followed him to this place.
And it is nht to say we have made him a slave.
The fact is, this man agreed lo bee a slave, we didnt make him.
"
Diogenes said, "Stop talking nonsense you fools, a me do my own aueering! Besides, this mans voice is not loud enough, no one will be able to hear him in this large crowd.
"
So Diogenes raised his void said, "A master has e here for sale.
Aerested in buying him should e forward.
"
Someone from the crowd asked, "You call yourself a master?"
Diogenes said, "Yes, I call myself a master.
I tied the s on my own.
I have e here on my own, willingly.
I stand here for sale of my own free will.
And I shall leave whenever I choose to leave.
Nothing happen against my will, because whatsoever happens I make that my will.
"
Diogenes is saying, "Whatsoever happens, I make that my will.
" This man has itaio tathata, suess.
What it means is: whatever goes on, he is ready for it.
He resists nothing at all.
In no way you defeat him, because he will already be a defeated man; you ot beat him because he will readily allow you to hurt him; you ot subjugate him because he will readily submit.
You t do anything to such a man, because no matter what you do, he will not resist.
This is indeed a demonstration of a truly supreme resolve.
So tathata is the ultimate will.
One who has attaiathata has attained God.
Therefore, the question is not whether a seeker who follows the discipline of witnessing, or one who follows the discipline of tathata would attain the same as a seeker who attains by following the discipline of will.
It is already attained by him without any problem.
The discipline of will is the most elementary.
The discipline of witnessing is of the intermediary kind, and tathata is the ultimate sadhana, the ultimate discipline.
So start with the practice of will, take a voyage through witnessing, and reach ultimately to tathata, suess.
There is no flict among the three.
Question 4
PLEASE EXPLAIN THE DIFFEREWEEN WITNESSING AND TATHATA.
In witnessing, the duality is present.
The witness finds himself separate from that which he experiences.
If a thorn pricks his foot, the witnessing man says, "The thorn has not pricked me, it has pricked my body -- I am only the knower of it.
The pierg has occurred at one place, while the awareness of it is present somewhere else.
"
So in the mind of a withere exists a duality, a separatioween the experieng of a and the actual occurrence of it.
Therefore, he ot rise up to the state of advaita, nonduality.
And this is why the seeker who stops at the level of being a witness, a watcher, remains fio a kind of dualism.
He ultimately divides the existeo scious and unscious.
seans the one who knows, and the unseans that which is known.
So eventually he is bound to end up dividieo purusha and prakriti.
Both of these words, purusha and prakriti, are highly signifit.
Perhaps the true meaning of prakriti may not have occurred to you, Prakriti doesnt mean nature; in fact, there is no word for prakriti In English.
Prakriti means that which was ience before everything came to be -- pra-kriti.
Prakriti does not mean srishti or nature, because srishti means that which exists after creation.
The word prakriti means that which was before creation.
The word purusha is also very meaningful.
The equivalents of such words are extremely difficult to find in any other language of the world, because all these words are born out of very special experiences.
You knour means; pur means the city.
For example, Kanpur, Nagpur.
So pur indicates the city, and the one who resides iy is the purusha.
The human body is like a town, a city, and there is someone who resides in it -- he is the purusha.
Prakriti, therefore, is the pur, and the one who lives in it -- separate, unattached -- is the purusha.
So the witness es as far as the separation of purusha and prakriti.
He will set them apart as two entities -- the scious and the unscious, and a distance will be created between the knower and the known.
Tathata is even more remarkable -- the ultimate.
Tathata means, there is no duality.
There is her a knower nor is there anything to be known.
Or, in other words, the knower is the known.
Now it is not that the thorn is hurting me and I am aware of it; or that the thorn and I are separate from each other.
It is not even that it would have beeer if the thorn had not pierced me, or that it would be good if the thorn came out -- no, there is nothing of this sort.
Now, everything is accepted: the presence of the thorn, the prig of it, the awareness of being pricked by it, the experience of pain -- everything.
And they are different parts of the same thing.
Therefore, I am the thorn.
I am the very occurrence of prig.
I am the awareness of this occurrence.
I myself am the very realization of this all -- I am all of this.
Thats why there is no going beyond this I, my very being.
I ot think, "It would have beeer if the thorn had not pricked me" -- how I? For I am the very thorn, the prig of it, and the knowing of being pricked as well.
Nor I think, "It would be good if the thorn didnt prick me," because that would be tantamount to tearing myself apart from my very own being.
Tathata is the ultimate state there is.
In that state, whatsoever is, is.
Its a state of the ultimate acceptance of that-which-is.
It tains no distins.
But one ot reach tathata without having been first a witness.
However, one stop at the level of witnessing, if he so desires, and choose not to arrive at tathata.
Similarly, without the use of will, one ot attaiate of witnessing.
Although, having gained willpower, one may wish to stay there and not e to the point of witnessing.
One who stops with attaining firmness of resolve would of course bee very powerful, but he wont be able to attain wisdom.
And therefore, the ability to make a resolve be misused, because wisdom is not required to attain it.
One will surely gain a lot of power, but that is precisely why he abuse it.
The entire black magic is a product of willpower.
One who practices it gains a lot of power, but he lacks wisdom totally.
He end up using that power without any discrimination.
A man of will bees filled with power.
It is difficult to predict right away what use he will make of it.
He obviously put it to bad use.
Power in itself is ral.
heless, it is necessary -- whether oends to use it food or for evil.
And as I see it, rather than remaining a weakling, it is better if one uses his power for evil purposes -- for the simple reason that one who its an evil aay someday use the same power food cause.
One who ot do evil ever do good either.
Thats why I say its better to be powerful than to be impotent and a wimp.
So a man of power set out oh of good as well as evil.
It is better to follow the course of goodness, because if followed rightly, it will bring you to the state of witnessing.
You wont end up as a witness if you follow the course of evil; rather, you will simply wander around within the fines of your willpower.
Then you will get into mesmerism and hypnotism, tantras and mantras, witchcraft and voodooism.
All kinds of things will crop up, but they wont lead you on a jouroward the soul.
This is being lost.
The power will indeed be there, but goray.
If the power is put on the course of goodness, it is sure to give rise to the witness within you, and ultimately that power be used to know and attain oneself.
This is what I call the course of goodness.
By the course of evil I mean trolling, possessing, enslaving the other.
This is what black magic is.
Making use of the power for the purpose of attaining oneself, knowing who am I, what am I, and living authentically, is moving in goodness.
And it will indeed lead ooward being a witness.
If the urge to attaiate of witnessing is satisfied with the knowing of oneself, the seeker reaches up to the fifth body and stops there.
However, if the urge is further intensified, one discovers that he is not alone, he tains everything; that the sun and the moon and the stars, the rocks, the soil, the flowers are all part of him; that his very being, his existencorporates all the rest.
If the seeker proceeds with su intense feeling, he reaches tathata.
Tathata, suess, is the ultimate fl ion, it is the supreme achievement.
It is total acceptance.
Whatsoever happens, one is open and agreeable to it.
Only su individual bee totally silent, because even a little bit of rese prolong the restlessness.
Ones restlessness and tension will tio remain if he carries even a small degree of plaint.
Even the slightest idea, "It didnt happen the way it should have," and the tension will tio persist.
The experience of supreme silehe experience of the greatest freedom from tension, and that of the ultimate liberation is possible only iate of tathata.
However, only a man of will eventually attaiate of witnessing, and only his going deeper into witnessing bring him to the state of tathata.
One who has not yet known what being a witness means ever know what total acceptance is.
One who hasnt realized that he is separate from the thorn which is prig him is not yet ready to know that the thorn is a part of him.
In fact, one who es to experiehe separateness of the thorn take the step of feeling oh the thorn as well.
So tathata is the fual principle.
Among all the spiritual disciplines discovered all over the world, tathata is the greatest.
Thats why one of Buddhas names is Tathagat.
It would be good to have some uanding of what this word tathagat means.
It will be useful in prehending the meaning of tathata.
Buddha has used the word Tathagat for himself.
He would say, for instance, "Tathagat said
" Tathagat means, thus came, thus gone.
Just as a breeze es and goes away without any purpose, without any meaning.
Just as a breath of air enters your room and goes out -- without any reason.
So the one whose ing and going away is as unmotivated, as desireless as the breeze, such a being is called Tathagat.
But who would e and go like a breeze?
He alone pass like a breeze who has attaio tathata.
Only he to whom the ing and the going makes no difference move like a breeze.
If he o e, he es; if he o go, he goes -- the same as Diogenes did.
It made no differeo him whether people put him in s or did not put him in s.
Diogenes said later on, "Only one who is proo be a slave be nervous about being a slave.
Sino one make me a slave, why should I be afraid I might be taken as a slave? One who carries even the slightest ahat he may be turned into a slave, he alone will remain in fear of it.
And one who has such a fear is indeed a slave.
Since I happen to be the lord and master myself, you ever enslave me.
Even in s, I am the master, and will remain so in your prison as well.
It makes no difference where you throw me; I still remain the lord and master.
My mastership is total and plete.
"
So the journey sists of this: from will to witness, and from wito tathata.
Question 5
YOU MENTIOHAT THERE IS NO PARABLE WORD FOR PRAKRITI IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
ISNT THE WORD STITUTION SIMILAR IN MEANING TO PRAKRITI?
No, its not the same meaning.
stitution in that sense means an individuals makeup, his psycho-physical structure.
stitution in this sense means ones system, ones physical and psychological makeup as such.
Prakriti is something very different.
Normally we use prakriti in the sehat "That mans stitution is such
" But this kind of usage is not correct.
Prakriti means that which was before creation -- precreated.
And pralaya means: post-creation -- that which follows the creation, the end of creation.
So prakriti means that which was even before the creation came to be, that which dido be created -- which has always been, beginningless.
That which already is.
Srishti means the created -- that which came to be.
There is no word in European languages which stands for prakriti, because these languages are influenced by Christianity.
In Europe there are words such as the creation, and the creator.
In the Indian languages exists the word prakriti, although not everyone uses it in the sehe Sankhyaites, the Vaisheshikas, the Jainas use it.
This word belongs to them.
In their view, that which has beeernally present, which has never beeed, is prakriti.
It is already there even before your creating anything.
For example, when you build a house, the design, the structure of it is its stitution.
But the material that goes into the making of it -- the soil, the air, the heat -- is all prakriti.
That which arises out of it is simply its structure.
However, that which resent even before the making of the structure -- which you did not create, whio one created, which is ued, which always was -- that something is called prakriti.
There is no word equi<cite></cite>valent to prakriti in any of the European languages.
Question 6
IS TATHATA THE SAME AS BEING JUST AWARE?
Actually, there is a slight differeween tathata and what you call "just awareness.
" Witnessing is also slightly different from it.
You say that being "just aware" makes up the liween witnessing and tathata.
As you move from witnessing to tathata, you pass through the state of "just awareness.
"
Iate of witnessing, there exists a firm feeling of "I am" and "you are.
" Iate where there is just awareness, only the feeling of "I am-ness" remains, the feeling of you disappears.
There is just the feeling of am-ness.
In tathata, besides the feeling of am-ness, there is the feeling that my am-ness, my existend your you-ness, your existence, stitute only one is-ness,<u>?99ｌｉｂ?</u> oehat they are one and the same.
As long as there exists just the awareness, just the feeling of am-ness, there will remain a world outside my state of am-ness -- a world which I am not, a world that exists beyond the limits of my am-ness, separate.
Tathata is limitless, it is simply being.
So if you mean tathata, then it is not just awareness; it means just being.
Thats the right expression; being has a much wider otation.
The moment you say "just awareness," you obviously leave something out.
The word just is indicative of omission.
When you say "just sciousness," you exclude something that does not fall within the parameters set by using the word just; otherwise, why would you have added just before sciousness?
Question 7
WE SAY: ONLY AWARENESS?
Yes, saying "only awareness" will do, but again, there is o add only before it.
Awareness is enough -- then there is no problem.
Question 8
YOU HAVE SAID THAT BY RESOLVING SCIOUSLY TO WITHDRAW INSIDE, OR AT THE TIME OF DEATH, THE ENTIRE LIFE ENERGY SHRINKS AURNS TO THE TER FOR THE PURPOSE OF TURNING INTO A SEED ONCE AGAIN.
AT WHICH TER DOES THE ENERGY SHRINK? DOES IT TRATE AT THE AGYA CHAKRA, AT THE NAVEL, OR AT SOME OTHER POINT? WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CHAKRA, AND WHY?
This requires a little sideration.
The whole energy will of course shrink before death occurs.
Before one embarks on a new jourhe energy which is otherwise dispersed all over the body will return to a point.
This is the same as when one moves from a house -- he collects all his important belongings.
When he lived there, all kinds of things were spread out in every part of the house, from the bathroom to the living room.
So at the time of moving, he sorts out his possessions.
He throws away the junk, packs up the important stuff, as out on a new journey.
Just as we abandon one life, one body, and ehe journey of another life, another body -- similarly the sciousness which read out withdraws and once again bees the seed.
Up to now it funed as an actuality; now it will once again bee a potentiality, because now, like a seed, it will enter a new body.
Just as a tree leaves seeds behind before dying, similarly the body too leaves behind seeds before it meets death.
What we call sperm or ova are the seeds left by the body at the time of death.
These are the seeds released prior to death, in anticipation of death.
The sperm tains the entire built-in program of your body, it tains the exact replica of your body.
As the body gets ready to depart, it leaves behind the tiny seed.
This phenomenon occurs at one level -- the physical.
Similarly, sciousness, on a different level, gathers itself and bees a seed in order to ehe seed present in some other body.
All journeys begin with the seed and end with the seed.
Remember, that which is the beginning is also the end.
The journeys cycle ends where it started.
We begin from a seed, we end up again as a seed.
So the question is: at the moment of death, at which ter would the sciousness gather to shrink and bee a seed? It would, of course, gather at the very ter you have lived through all your life.
It would trate at the ter which was most valuable to you in your life, because that was your most active ter; one should say, that was the very point from where your whole vital energy funed.
For example, if a man lived his whole life obsessed with sex, if he knew nothing beyond sex, if sex was all he lived for -- he earned wealth to enjoy sex, he went after a high position in the pursuit of sex, he wao have good health so that he could indulge more into sex -- if sex was the most predominaer funing in his life, then that is where the entire energy will verge at the moment of death.
Then his new journey will begin from the sex ter.
Why? -- because his birth will be an ongoing journey of the same sex-obsessed ter.
This mans sciousness will gather at the sex ter in the dying moments, and that is the point where his life will e to an end.
His life energy will leave through his genitalia.
Had this man lived through a differeer, the energy would have trated a from that ter.
The ter around whies life has revolved is the ter from where he will depart.
The place where he dwelt the whole life will be the place from where he will depart.
Therefore, a yogi leave from the agya chakra, and a lover from his heart chakra.
The life energy of an enlightened man would leave from the sahasrar, the seventh chakra -- his skull will break open as he departs from there.
The point from where one makes a is the clusive proof of how one has lived his life.
Such teiques were discovered in the past that by looking at a dead body one could say through which chakra, through which door the sciousness left the body.
All the chakras are doors for entrance as well as for exit.
The soul will use the same door for entering another body which it used for exiting the dying body.
The soul will ehe new cell in a mothers womb through the same door from which it came out at the previous death -- thats the only door it knows.
Therefore, the mental dition of the father and the mother, as well as their state of sciousness at the time of intercourse, determine what kind of soul will ehe womb, because only that type of sciousness, that kind of soul will be attracted to seek that womb which fits with the ter closest to the minds of the father and mother during the intercourse.
If two individuals who have gone deep into meditation make love not with the desire for sexual pleasure, but as an experiment in giving birth to a soul -- they make use of the highest possible chakras for that purpose.
This is the reason why the higher souls have to wait for a long time -- because they need a womb of a higher quality, which is very difficult to find.
Hence, many good souls ot take birth again for hundreds of years.
The same is the case with many of the evil souls.
The ordinary souls are bht away.
They take birth instantly, without any difficulty, because many suitable wombs are available to them every day.
About one hundred ay thousand births take place every day, excluding the number of people dying.
Every day about two huhousand souls enter as many wombs -- but this applies only to the ordinary souls.
Many souls, who after great difficulty were born on this earth, have been forced to take birth on other plas.
The earth became incapable of giving them birth again.
This is the same as if a stist born in India were to find a suitable job in America.
He would be born on our soil, we would provide him with food and water, care and nourishment, but not a single living opportunity befitting his background and training.
Obviously, he is forced to seek a position in America.
Today, most of the stists from all different parts of the world have settled down in America.
This is bound to be so.
In the same manner, although we help souls evolve on this earth we do not make available a suitable womb for their birth.
Naturally, they are forced to seek opportunities for birth on other plas.
Question 9
IF WE DO INDEED POSSESS THE TALENT FOR CREATING STISTS, WHY ARENT WE ALSO ENDOWED WITH THE ABILITY TO MAKE THE RIGHT KIND OF EMPLOYMENT AVAILABLE TO THEM?
No, there isnt any necessary correlatioweewo.
The problem is, creating a stist depends o of requirements while providing him with a suitable employment depends on some other set of factors.
Giving birth to a stist depends on how his soul has lived through its previous lives.
If the moment of lovemakiween a couple is such that a soul have an access through the door of intellect, it will have found the suitable womb, and it will be born.
Providing work for a stist, however, depends on how the entire society is set up, how it funs.
Our stist may earhousand rupees in America, but a thousand rupees in India.
Moreover, he have laboratory and research facilities in America whi India he may have to await for a thousand years.
In America, his discoveries will not be lost in the bureaucratic maze or rot iacks of files -- they will earn him a Nobel prize.
Here in India, his superior will put a lid on it and will never allow it to see the light of day.
And some day, if his work does ever bee known to the public, the ces are that either the politi or his superior officer may claim the credit for it -- he may never earn the credit for his own achievements.
So all of this depends on a thousand and ohings.
Many individuals who take birth and attain higher sciousness on this earth, have to seek birth on other plas.
Actually, people whht information from other plao this earth were basically from the other plas.
Its only now that the stists have e there may be life on some fifty thousand plas.
Yogis have known this sint times.
In the past, however, they didnt have any means to verify it.
But when the souls who beloo other plaook birth oh and brought the news, their hypothesis was firmed.
Similarly, those who have carried the news of this plao other plas are also different kinds of souls -- the ones which could not be ceived on the earth.
At the moment of death, the sciousness of man es together totally.
In that crystallized form it draws in all his ditionings, propensities, desires -- the total essence, we may call it the perfume or the stench of his entire life -- and moves on to its journey.
Mostly, this journey will be automatic -- there wont be any element of choi it.
It will be as if you pour water and it moves into small hollows in the earth.
Similarly, in the normal course, a womb works like a hollow into which a nearby available sciousness enters.
Therefore, in most ordinary cases a man is bain and again in the same society, in the same try.
Very rarely does this ge.
The variation occurs only when a suitable womb is not available.
Thats why it is so amazing that in the last two hundred years many great souls, which otherwise were born in India, had to take birth in Europe.
Annie Besant, Madame Blavatsky, Leadbeater, el Olcott -- these are all souls from India who were forced to take birth in Europe.
Lobsang Rampa, for example, is a Tibetan soul born in Europe.
The reason for all this was that a womb was not available to them in the try of their birth, hehey had to look for it somewhere else.
An ordinary man is born immediately.
This is like if you were to move from your house, you would obviously make a search for another house in the same neighborhood.
If you fail to locate a house here, only then would you go looking for it somewhere else, in another neighborhood.
If you dont find it in Bombay proper, you may hunt for it in the suburbs: if you dont succeed there, you may move ahead and look somewhere else.
But once you have found the house, the matter is over.
This phenomenon ut to a wonderful use.
It would be good to sider a couple of things in order to see how this principle was used.
It is necessary that we take a look at it now, because it carries a special signifi the text of the present times.
The most amazing application of it was made in India, through the caste system.
The application was of great value.
The Indians divided the entire society into four castes.
The idea was that if a brahmin died, his soul should be reborn as a brahmin.
If a kshatriya died, his soul should be reborn as a kshatriya.
It is obvious that if a society is divided into fixed divisions, then there is a great possibility that when a kshatriya dies, his soul would seek its abode in the same neighborhood.
It will enter into the womb of a kshatriya woman.
And if a persons soul tio be born as a kshatriya for a few times, it will bee kshatriya-like.
You wont be able to produce such a kshatriya, such a fighter, even by giving someone a regular military training.
Similarly, if a soul were to be reborn as a brahmin ten or twenty times, the kind of pure brahminic quality that will unfold because of it ever be created by putting oo a gurukul -- a residential school run by a brahmin teacher -- or by edug him.
The amazing thing is, we have devised educational means good for only one lifetime.
Some people in the past had worked out a system of education that would last for an infinite number of lives.
It was indeed a remarkable experiment, but it met with decay.
It became corrupt and putrefied -- not because the idea and its application were wrong, but because its fual sutras, its main principles were lost.
And those who claim themselves to be the custodians of the system do not have a sira to vouch for.
No brahmin, no shankaracharya holds any sutra, any uanding on which they lay their claim or authority.
They only quote their scriptures which state that a brahmin is a brahmin, and a sudra is a sudra.
But scriptures are of no use; only the stific principles work.
So the most incredible experiment this try did was that of planning the birth of a soul for endless lives.
That means they not only prepared the man for his future lives, they also made a trolled and systematic effort to redired elize his sciousness for the lives ahead.
.
Because it is possible that a brahmin may take birth in a sudra family and, lag an appropriate enviro, he may not be able to carry the gains of his past lives into his lives.
This cause great difficulty.
It is also ceivable that what he could have achieved in ten days by being born in a brahmins home, he may not achieve in ten years in a sudras home.
So su advanced cept and farreag vision of human evolution was at the base of this clear fourfold division of the Indian society.
The people had worked out the idea of taking birth in the same neighborhood so that one may keep finding wombs of the same quality for lives together.
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