Death Is An Illusion – In Gita Verse 5.23 Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is well situated and is happy in this world.
Krishna is telling that this body is a laboratory for our spiritual growth. Before we die we need to learn which is immortal in us. The desire, anger etc will become an instrument for our spiritual growth.
“Down the ages man has been searching to find how to conquer death. And in fact there is no need to search, because death is an illusion,” says Osho
Death never happens – it only appears to. Man is immortal. Man need not be immortal. He does not have to work for it – it is already the case, but we don’t know the man who is inside us. All that is needed is an acquaintance. You have to be introduced to yourself, that’s all. The moment you are introduced you will see that you have never died, and you cannot die – death cannot happen. Only the body dies and the consciousness continues. It changes houses, it changes old garments for new. The journey is eternal.
There are only two things which are the greatest illusions in the world: one is the ego and the other is death. And both are joined together, in fact, are two aspects of the same coin. It is because of the ego that the other illusion of death is created. Because we think we are separate from the whole, the fear arises: ‘We will die.’ The moment we know we are not separate from the whole, who is going to die? There is nobody to die, the whole, has continued.
The moment the wave thinks itself separate from the ocean, the fear will arrive that sooner or later it will die, because it will see other waves dying and disappearing. But the moment the wave recognises the fact that it is not separate – it is part of the ocean, and those waves which have disappeared have not really disappeared; they have gone back into the source, they will come again…. Another season, another wind, and they will be born. And the game continues. It is an eternal play of consciousness.
Unless we are acquainted with ourselves, we will not know immortality. But how can we introduce ourselves? In my Bhagavad Gita Verse 2.7 blog I wrote Be Yourself, authentically yourself. Respect yourself.
What we miss in life we put in poetry. What we go on missing in life, we put in the film, in the novel.
Love is absolutely absent, because the first step has not been taken yet.
The first step is: accept yourself as you are; drop all shoulds. Don’t carry any ought on your heart! You are not to be somebody else; you are not expected to do something which doesn’t belong to you – you are just to be yourself. Relax! And just be yourself. Be respectful to your individuality and have the courage to sign your own signature. Don’t go on copying others’ signatures.
You are not expected to become a Jesus or a Buddha or a Ramakrishna – you are simply expected to become yourself. It was good that Ramakrishna never tried to become somebody else, so he became Ramakrishna. It was good that Jesus never tried to become like Abraham or Moses, so he became Jesus. It is good that Buddha never tried to become a Patanjali or Krishna = that’s why he became a Buddha.
When you are not trying to become anybody else, then you simply relax – then a grace arises. Then you are full of grandeur, splendor, harmony – because then there is no conflict! Nowhere to go, nothing to fight for; nothing to force, enforce upon yourself violently. You become innocent.
In that innocence you will feel compassion and love for yourself. You will feel so happy with yourself that even if God comes and knocks at your door and says, “Would you like to become somebody else?” You will say, “Have you gone mad?! I am perfect! Thank-you, but never try anything like that – I am perfect as I am.”
The moment you can say to God, “I am perfect as I am, I am happy as I am,” this is what in the East we call shraddha – trust; then you have accepted yourself and in accepting yourself you have accepted your creator. Denying yourself you deny your creator.
Krishna tells that when you accept yourself the desire and anger which is from the objective world will transform – desire will transform into surrender and anger will transform into compassion, as you know yourself only by loving yourself.
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