Mysterious Wall

Be Prepared

Death is a constant reminder – ‘I can come any moment. Be prepared.’ And what is the preparation? The preparation is: live life so totally, so intensely, be so aflame with it that when death comes there is no complaint, there is no grudge.

You are absolutely ready because you have lived life so totally, you have known all its mysteries – there is no point in living anymore. Death has come exactly at the right time, when you may have thought to die yourself. I call that death perfect which comes at the moment when you yourself may have thought, ‘It is enough.’

Death comes, and you understand that life has been lived totally, so now there is no point to go on breathing and go on waking and sleeping unnecessarily – because nothing new is going to happen. Now everything is past and there is no future. In such a moment, death is a welcome guest. And unless you are ready to welcome death, know well that you have missed life. Those who feel sadness and fear about death are the people who have missed the train. But in our unconsciousness, we are all continuously missing the train. The train is moving every moment, just in front of you, but somehow you go on missing.

Let me tell you anecdote – three professors, all belonging to the Department of Philosophy…

They were talking, standing on the platform. They had come to send off one of them on a long journey. But they got so involved in their talking and discussions that the train left. It was only when the last compartment was moving just in front of them that all three became aware of it. They all ran. Two jumped into the compartment, one could not.

An old man, a porter on the railway station, was watching the whole scene. And this man standing there was looking so sad that the old man said, ‘I can understand that you missed the train, but don’t be worried, because within two hours another train will be coming.’

He said, ‘I am not worried about myself. I am worried about those two fellows who have entered the compartment. They had come to send me off…’

But such was the rush – and everything had to be done so quickly.

This is our state. It can happen to anybody, just because our actions arise out of our unconsciousness. Your heart trembling with fear is nothing but your misunderstanding. As far as death is concerned, what you experienced is true for everybody, every moment, until you die. It is not true only for those who are already dead. In one thing they are better off than you: they cannot die anymore – no fear, no trembling of the heart. They just lie down and rest in their graves. Nothing is going to happen to them anymore.

But as long as you are alive, the possibility of death is absolutely certain. Only the timing is not certain. But the happening is absolutely certain. What does it matter whether you die after seven days or seven years or seventy years? One thing is certain: you are going to die.

Life is not something that you can go on missing. Otherwise at the moment of death you will feel the greatest misery and pain, the deepest agony, from missing the whole opportunity that was given to you.

Existence gives so abundantly, it is not miserly. You are just not alert enough to use the opportunity to transform yourself into something immortal, eternal, into some experience which will make you beyond the reach of death. Just fearing death is not of any help. If you see that death is following you, it is time to start searching deeper into yourself for that point which is beyond death. We have been calling that point sat-chit-anand: the truth of your being, the ultimate consciousness of your life, and the tremendous blessing of your coming to flower.