THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT IS COMING ALONG FAST,
AND THE SHADOWS OF LOVE
CLOSE IN THE BODY AND THE MIND.
OPEN THE WINDOW TO THE WEST, AND DISAPPEAR
INTO THE AIR INSIDE YOU.
NEAR YOUR BREASTBONE THERE IS AN OPEN FLOWER.
DRINK THE HONEY THAT IS ALL AROUND THAT FLOWER.
WAVES ARE COMING IN:
THERE IS SO MUCH MAGNIFICENCE NEAR THE OCEAN.
LISTEN: SOUND OF IMMENSE SEASHELLS! SOUND OF BELLS
KABIR SAYS, 'FRIEND, LISTEN,
THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO SAY:
THE GUEST I LOVE IS INSIDE ME!'
FRIEND, HOPE FOR THE GUEST WHILE YOU ARE ALIVE.
JUMP INTO EXPERIENCE WHILE YOU ARE ALIVE.
THINK AND THINK WHILE YOU ARE ALIVE.
WHAT YOU CALL 'SALVATION'
BELONGS TO THE TIME BEFORE DEATH.
IF YOU DON'T BREAK YOUR ROPES WHILE YOU'RE ALIVE,
DO YOU THINK GHOSTS
WILL DO IT AFTER?
THE IDEA THAT THE SOUL WILL JOIN WITH THE ECSTATIC
JUST BECAUSE THE BODY IS ROTTEN —
THAT IS ALL FANTASY.
WHAT IS FOUND NOW IS FOUND THEN.
IF YOU FIND NOTHING NOW, YOU WILL SIMPLY END UP
WITH AN APARTMENT IN THE CITY OF DEATH.
AND IF YOU MAKE LOVE WITH THE DIVINE NOW,
IN THE NEXT LIFE YOU WILL HAVE THE FACE
OF SATISFIED DESIRE.
THEN PLUNGE INTO THE TRUTH,
FIND OUT WHO THE TEACHER IS,
BELIEVE IN THE GREAT SOUND!
KABIR SAYS THIS:
'WHEN THE GUEST IS BEING SEARCHED FOR, IT IS THE
INTENSITY OF THE LONGING FOR THE GUEST
THAT DOES ALL THE WORK.
LOOK AT ME…
YOU WILL SEE A SLAVE OF THAT INTENSITY.'
THE greatest mystery in life is not life itself but death. Death is the culmination of life, the ultimate blossoming of life. In death the whole life is summed up, in death you arrive. Life is a pilgrimage towards death. From the very beginning, death is coming. From the morning of birth, death has started coming towards you, you have started moving towards death.
And the greatest calamity that has happened to the human mind is that he is against death. Being against death means you will miss the greatest mystery. And being against death also means that you will miss life itself — because they are deeply involved in each other; they are not two. Life is growing, death is the flowering of it. The journey and the goal are not separate — the journey ends in the goal.
Death has to be taken as the crescendo. Then a different vision arises. then you don't avoid death, then you are not anti-death — then you are thrilled by its mystery and you start enjoying it and contemplating it and meditating on it.
And death comes in many ways. When you die, that is only one of the forms of death. When your mother dies, that is a death to you too — because the mother was involved in you, she was occupying a great part of your being. And the mother has died — that part inside you has died. Your father will die, your brother, your sister, your friend. Even when your enemy dies, something will die in you, because the enemy was also involved in you. You will miss something, you will lack something, you will never be the same again.
So it is not only in your death that death comes; death comes through many ways. Death is always coming. When your childhood disappears and you become a young man or a young woman, can't you see? Death has happened. The childhood is no more there, the childhood has died, that door is closed. You cannot move back, you cannot recapture it, it is gone for ever: you have died as a child. And then one day the youth moves into old age: he has died again. There are a thousand and one deaths.
In fact if you look deeply, penetratingly, you will see each moment you are dying, because each moment you are changing — something is slipping out of your being and something is entering your being. Each moment is a birth and a death. You flow between these two banks, birth and death. Your river of life is possible only because of birth and death — and it is each moment that it is happening.
It happens very silently. You cannot hear its footsteps, it makes no noise. It goes on happening — and it happens so continuously that you don't see it, it is so obvious. The obvious is forgotten, it becomes part of your life. You only take notice of something which happens suddenly, you only take notice of something which is abrupt. And death is continuous — that's why you don't take any note of it.
And these are not the only forms of death; there are even more subtle forms of death. When you fall in love you die. Love is death — death in its purity. And only those who are ready to die will be able to love. If you are afraid to die you will also be afraid to love. That's why love is missing in the world. People go on thinking about love — they fantasize about it but they don't move into it. Because love is death. And death frightens you.
Lovers die into each other. And only those who are ready to die into each other become lovers. Others are only playing the game. The game of love is not real love, it is phony. And millions of people go on being phony — because they are afraid of death, therefore they are afraid of love too. And love always brings death in. Love is a door for death and death is a door for love.
Or when you meditate, then too you die. Hence people are afraid of going into deep meditation. Every day somebody comes to me: 'Now, Osho, it is happening. And I am frightened, I am frightened to my very roots. Meditation is happening; I feel a kind of disappearance. Now protect me.' He was eager to meditate — when it was not happening he was very worried about it. Now it is happening; that creates worry. And I know why — because when he was reading about meditation and hearing about meditation he became greedy about it, without becoming aware that it will lead one into a deep death.
Or you surrender to a master. That is one of the most profound deaths: the ego dies and disappears. These are all deaths, and death is always coming.
You must have heard these famous lines of John Donne: 'Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls — it tolls for thee.'
Whenever anybody dies anywhere, death knocks at your doors too. And not only a human being: a dog dies, a crow dies, or a leaf becomes pale and dies and drops from the tree — you are dying. Because we are involved in each other, we are parts of each other, we are members of each other. Man is not an island; we are all in a kind of togetherness. And death is happening each moment in millions of ways all around the world. Existence lives through death, existence renews itself through death. Death is the greatest mystery — more mysterious than life, because life is only a pilgrimage towards death.
And only those who are in love with death will be able to know what life is. People don't live — they can't live, they are so frightened of death.
I have heard: Ludwig Wittgenstein, a great philosopher, was staying at another great philosopher's house — Bertrand Russell. 'While staying at Bertrand Russell's home one night, Wittgenstein tramped back and forth, keeping Russell awake. Russell asked the reason. Wittgenstein said he was trying to decide whether to commit suicide or not. Russell said "Well, hurry and make up your mind, for I want to get some sleep."'
Russell joked about it but missed the point. Russell was a very rational man, realistic, pragmatic, logical. Wittgenstein was also a great logician, greater than Bertrand Russell, but he knew the limits of logic too. He knew that there is something beyond logic and he knew that life reveals its mysteries only in death. And he remained fascinated with death his whole life — he was always contemplating whether to commit suicide or not. By 'suicide' he does not mean the ordinary suicide — he is asking whether to disappear or not.
And one can disappear in two ways. One, the ordinary way, the ordinary way of dying — resisting, fighting. The other way is relaxing, enjoying, ecstatic about it. That's what he calls suicide. Voluntarily, dancing, thrilled by the adventure — that's what he calls suicide. Suicide means being ready of one's own accord, taking a few steps to meet death and embrace death.
This is one of the greatest problems each single individual has to decide. Don't die an ordinary death — reluctant, fighting, angry, in rage, clinging, greedy for life.
OSHO