| |
the lesson. Then in death gods will be returning back to their homes.
WHEN RABBI BIRNHAM LAY DYING, HIS WIFE BURST INTO TEARS.
HE SAID, 'WHAT ARE YOU CRYING FOR?
MY WHOLE LIFE WAS ONLY THAT I MIGHT LEARN HOW TO DIE.'
The whole life...just a training for how to go back home, how to die, how to disappear. Because the moment you disappear, God appears in you. Your presence is God's absence; your absence is God's presence.
The Art of Dying
Chapter #2
Chapter title: Confusion is my Method
12 October 1976 am in Buddha Hall
Archive code: 7610120
ShortTitle: ART02
Audio: Yes
Video: No
Length: 93 mins
The first question:
Question 1
HOW CAN WE PREPARE OURSELVES FOR DEATH?
DON'T accumulate anything whatever: power, money, prestige, virtue, knowledge, even the so-called spiritual experiences. Don't accumulate. If you don't accumulate you are ready to die any moment, because you have nothing to lose. The fear of death is not really fear of death; the fear of death comes out of the accumulations of life. Then you have too much to lose so you cling to it. That is the meaning of Jesus' saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit.
I don't mean become a beggar, and I don't mean renounce the world. I mean be in the world but don't be of the world. Don't accumulate inside, be poor in spirit. Never possess anything -- and then you are ready to die. Possessiveness is the problem, not life itself. The more you possess, the more you are afraid to lose. If you don't possess anything, if your purity, if your spirit is uncontaminated by anything, if you are simply there alone, you can disappear any moment; whenever death knocks on the door it will find you ready. You are not losing anything. By going with death you are not a loser. You may be moving into a new experience.
And when I say don't accumulate, I mean it as an absolute imperative. I'm not saying don't accumulate things of this world but go on accumulating virtue, knowledge, and so-called spiritual experiences, visions -- no. I am talking in absolute terms: don't accumulate. There are
|
|
|