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we see death happening, we become aware of our own death. When we cry over somebody's death, it is not just for that person's death alone, but also for the hint we get of our own. Our suffering from pain and sorrow is not only over someone else's death but also over the apparent possibility of our own. The occurrence of every death is, at the same time, our own death. And so long as we remain surrounded by death, how can we live? Like that, living is impossible. Like that, we cannot know what life is -- neither its joy, nor its beauty, nor its benediction. Like that, we cannot reach the temple of God, the supreme truth of life.
The temples which have been created out of the fear of death are not the temples of God. The prayers which have been composed out of the fear of death are not prayers to God either. Only one who is filled with the joy of life reaches the temple of God. God's kingdom is filled with joy and beauty, and the bells of God's temple ring only for those who are free from all kinds of fears, for those who have become fearless.
Because we like to live in fear this seems difficult. But this is not possible -- only one of the two things can be right. Remember, if life is true then death cannot be true -- and if death is true then life will be nothing but a dream, a lie; then life cannot be true. These two things cannot exist simultaneously. But we hold on to both together. There is the feeling that we are alive and there is also the feeling that we are dead.
I have heard about a fakir who lived in a faraway valley. Many people would go to him with questions. Once a man came and asked him to explain something about life and death. The fakir said, "You are welcome to know about life; my doors are open. But if you want to know about death then go somewhere else, because I have never died nor will I ever die. I have no experience of death. If you want to know about death men ask those who have died, ask those who are already dead." Then the fakir laughed and he said, "But how will you ask those who are already dead? And if you ask me to give you the address of a dead person, I cannot do it. Because ever since I have come to know that
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