Ignorance of Life is Death
4 November 1969 pm in Borium, Bombay, India
Man doesnt even know w life is.
And if knoy of our knoher.
As long as life itself remains unfamiliar, as long as it remains an enigma, t death is.
truto occur because we life is.
For th is an impossible word.
It is something which has never occurred, never occurs, can never occur.
tain ain not even an iota of truth.
them.
It is a totally false word.
No event like death occurs anywhere.
But we see people dying every day.
Every day, deato be happening all around us.
Every village ion ground.
And if and rigo realize t less people ed on t very spot.
t our ery at some time or other.
Millions upon millions of people have died, and are dying every day.
And yet, you ire h.
tic in tibet by the name of Marpa.
Someone once came to ;I o ask you about life and death.
quot; Marpa gave a big laug;If you to kno life you are most welcome, because I know w life is.
As far as deat ing acquainted .
If you to knohose who are already dead.
I am familiar alk about life.
I can s life is.
I am not familiar h.
quot;
tory is similar to tale of darkness and light.
Per.
Once darkness to see God and implored, quot;Lord, t to get me.
I am exed.
arts c daer mucrouble leaves me alone in the evening.
y is to rest after a ic day my door at dawn.
Again I o run for my life, again I o escape -- ternity.
I of patience.
I cant take it any more.
I beg you, please make and.
quot;
It is said t God called t;er darkness? wrong y? grievance do you ;
quot;Darkness?quot; asked the sun.
quot;I ime immemorial, but I have never come across darkness.
I dont know who darkness is.
I may ask o kno of his way.
quot;
Infinite time took place.
tter is still pending in Gods files; ill not been able to bring darkness before the sun.
ter is never going to be resolved.
ive existence of its o all.
Darkness is merely t.
into t before the sun.
It is even difficult to bring darkness before a little lamp, let alone t.
It is difficult for darkness to penetrate t around a lamp; it is difficult for darkness to er h a lamp.
? all, or else th.
Bot be true together.
e are alive, but know w life is.
And tainty of death.
Ignorance is death.
tself becomes th.
If, God o kno is knoroy forever t one can die, or t one some time in t, or t one some time in ture.
e dont kno t .
e fail to become acquainted t is our vital energy, our life, our existence, and .
Man is not mortal, al.
tal, but tality.
e never searcion of life; even take one step to.
And since ened of death.
So tion is not one of life and deation is only of life.
I o speak on life and deat this is impossible.
tion is only of life, t all.
life is, only t, but wh.
As a problem, life and deat bot simultaneously.
Eit kno case deathere is no life.
t bot toget.
But h.
tself sh.
ty h life.
And t is, life is flo.
It is floicle, all around, -- and yet it is unknoo us? t man is in a deep sleep.
Only in sleep is it possible a man could remain unfamiliar h who he is.
It boils doo t t man is deeply unconscious.
It can only mean t tal energy of man is not conscious, not awake.
knohe darkness of sleep.
even kno.
er o kno he has been asleep.
In sleep a man doesnt know he is asleep.
asleep to sleep.
And as long as ill a asleep.
But as soon as knoice t asleep.
hen does he know he was asleep before.
In sleep one doesnt know w.
Obviously, man , or who he is.
t some deep spiritual ic sleep is surrounding him.
ts self, w life is.
But accept this.
ell say, quot;e know very well w life is.
e breat, we sleep.
quot; A drunkard also alks, and so does a madman.
But t does not prove t senses or t the madman is conscious.
Once, ones and sing abuse at the emperor.
It er all, a royal pageant, so tely arrested and to prison.
But the emperor himself was laughing.
his soldiers were puzzled.
er asked.
quot;;
t;As far as I can see, t know w he is doing.
I believe he is drunk.
Nevertomorrow morning.
quot;
Next morning t before the emperor.
t; abuse at me? me yesterday? ;
t;Me? S you? No, your majesty, I must not s w hings.
I there.
I I said.
quot;
e too exist as if .
e alk and love and e, wage war -- all in sleep.
If anyone from a distant planet o cire ate of unconsciousness.
In t t fifteen thousand wars.
t awake.
From birto deat is one long story of anxiety, misery, pain and death.
Man doesnt find a single moment of bliss, a single spot of joy in his life.
ely ignorant of w joy is.
Life passes and a single glimpse of joy.
Obviously, one cannot say man is living in awareness.
Misery, pain, anxiety, sadness and insanity make up our lives, but ice it because people around us are also as asleep as we are.
Once in a t ely kill him.
e dont tolerate him for long.
t;
.
because you are an a is your fault.
Seeing you awake, we wed.
For people like us who are asleep, you become a symbol of disgrace.
You are aurbs our sleep.
ell kill you.
quot; So o Socrates, e Mansoor.
e treat tes of a madreat someone w mad.
A friend of mine once mad.
in a lunatic asylum.
In y, one day, ally drank a bucket of p for cleaning toilets.
For fifteen days ly sick.
inuous vomiting and diarrhea.
t about sucic c were expelled from his body.
Actually o stay in t ay ended for ter he became well.
tional mont asylum, old me later, han hell for him.
;As long as I he same as I was.
But where I was.
I asleep and tarted pushing me.
I never noticed too.
everyone around me was mad as well.
Only all those people were mad.
quot;As I ceased to be mad, I became target of everyone there.
My problem I knee I wondered and worried w would o me now.
out of t mad, mad.
No doctor o believe me.
quot;
e are surrounded by people oo.
e immediately kill troublesome, very disturbing to us.
A Britised a book of o a mystic, Gurdjieff.
tion is tremendous, wonderful.
ten, quot;to George Gurdjieff, turber of my sleep.
quot;
tried to break mans sleep.
But if you attempt to break anybodys sleep, ake revenge on you.
Dont ever try to .
Up to noo s of ual sleep, we as well.
e dont notice it because oo.
I ered a city.
o a well would go mad.
ty.
t t he kings palace.
By time it city became ty, so even at t of turning mad, people drank ter.
? they were helpless.
And so by evening tire city had gone mad.
t t o drink ter from t well and become mad.
ers were o be saved from madness as well.
tion, but by evening they were wrong.
they had all gone mad.
the kings army had gone mad as well.
Surrounding ted, quot;It seems our king has gone mad.
e cannot tolerate a mad king sitting on throne.
quot;
From to ely surrounded by the mad crowd.
terrified.
er w he should do.
quot; will ; he worriedly asked.
quot;e t unate t we had our own well.
No.
quot; Sooner or later, all kings o pay dearly for owning an exclusive well.
true all over the world.
One ainly find e ly tomorrow.
Owning an exclusive well is dangerous.
But, until t realized te well.
So urned to ter for advice.
ter said, quot;No for wo seek advice.
Just escape by ter of tside and his palace is in grave danger.
quot;
t;You me to drink er from t me to go mad?quot;
quot;t by becoming mad,quot; replied ter.
to ty s er.
t nig celebration took place in ty.
t.
toring tal state, because noing abuse.
Mentally, the king had become normal.
Since our state of sleep is so common, so universal, and because we h, we remain unaware.
In tate of sleep and about life? e understand only t tself is life and t one is unable to penetrate the body.
tanding is similar to a man mistaking ter self, or a man and ter ing in the palace.
One o be t side its walls.
e he body.
e live outside the body.
e are familiar only er layer of to knos inner layers.
e dont even kno alone tself.
e consider tside of to be t of the wall.
e knoernally; we hin.
For example, ed in thin.
A man, side, sees tside; see it from hin as we do.
Man is not even able to see only from tside.
And to th.
t is only ter covering.
It is only ter ter of the house.
ter of t to meet him.
even knoo knoer seated hin?
tside becomes th.
his experience slips away from ones hands
.
tal energy contracts er side feel the man is dead.
the man also feels he is dying.
o move ood as life.
to move o be.
On its o tarts screaming in agony, quot;I am dying! I am gone! Everyt; -- because o sink, to drop away.
People outside t of deat of c;I am dying! Dying! Dying! I am gone!quot;
t really represent our autic being.
Deep inside from the body.
It is totally opposite, reverse to the body.
Look at a seed.
It ects tender, delicate seedling of life .
Inside lies te sprout, and a tougo protect it.
But tself, is not the seed.
If a man takes t be able to kno .
cling to t .
No, t the seed.
On trary, trut self, o burst, o diffuse itself, o dissolve in th.
s itself.
Our paining t consisting of life, of consciousness, of being.
But, taking t is never born, ts.
One experiences life ws.
sprouts, man ceases to be a seed and groo a tree.
As long as man is a seed, entiality, and wree of life is born in ic.
Some call ticity t God.
Man is the seed of God.
he is only a seed.
Its tree t will he wholeness of life.
ate of tree? green leaves t floy of tars? , sitting on top, birds travelers in tree he seed has no idea.
t even dream of ties aing o a tree.
It can only realize tree.
Man doesnt know w life is because is in being a seed alone.
only self totally.
But t place, even realize ting is different and separate from the body.
e are never able to remember, to realize t and separate from the body as well.
o be t wside.
Once I asked a tree, quot;;
tree replied, quot;In ts, w visible.
quot; tree springs from ts; tree are invisible.
Mao Zedong ten an anecdote from his childhood.
ells t ttle garden close to t her lived in.
All ended t love and care.
People used to come from fara to see tiful and lovely flo garden.
ted a person op for a moment or two and admire such appealing flowers.
In her fell ill.
Mao hen.
t any gro Mao told to ts and flowers.
ake good care of them.
Day and nigill dark, Mao oil in the garden.
Assured, ted.
In fifteen days t in the garden.
she saw was awful.
tire garden hered away.
Not only too.
Even trees had become sad.
t t ty today.
All trees were sad.
t, quot; ill dusk?quot; she wailed.
Mao also burst into tears.
;I did t I could.
I used to dust eaco dust each and every leaf.
I used to kiss eacer on each flower.
I dont kno;
Even t er.
quot;You foolis; she said.
quot;Dont you knorees never lies in ts, w visible.
Your ering them was all meaningless.
Never the leaves.
If ts begin to gain strengt o them.
quot;
But man ood life in terms of ter expanse of ted ts completely.
Mans inner roots are lying totally neglected.
even remember t hing inner as well.
And actually, hin.
trutentialities are from there.
Being is akes place outside.
t hin.
t .
Manifestation is all outside.
Being is hin.
take ter manifestation as life, tire life is tened h.
t dead.
t.
And tened of deatroubled over someone elses death.
Alt, t really cry and feel troubled over anyones deatronger the reminder.
And to tremble.
In tate a man things.
;tal, of the form of Brahman.
quot; t is notion.
to boost rengts, quot;tal
quot; is, quot;No, I o die, tal.
quot; Alt outal.
If a man knoal, o repeat it even once.
he knows.
tter is over.
tinue to fear it.
Mean a nerick, a neion t tal.
ts to find a nation more afraid of deatalks about tality of the soul.
t misfortune ry.
Of all tality of t are in try.
And in try test as well.
ogether?
tal.
them.
You s th is finished forever.
t needs to be understood.
tal are people afraid of death.
ting, quot;tal.
quot; Afraid of deatalk a great deal about non-violence -- not because t to kill anyone, but because, very deep do anyone to kill them.
t.
But is bad to kill anyone.
quot; But deep do;Lest we are killed by someone.
quot; to kill is evil indeed, but if t all, the fear of dying nor of killing.
tters become irrelevant.
On ttlefield, Kriso Arjuna, quot;Do not be afraid, because tanding in front of you ed many times before.
You ainly existed before, and I oo.
e imes in t and will be imes again.
quot; Notroyed in the fear of dying or of killing.
tion is of living life.
to kill or to be killed become impotent in the eyes of life.
One t-w ever die.
ing t o kno tal! t day th will disappear.
t of killing will be gone for good.
t is w before.
ars cannot disappear from t appears to man t he can die.
Regardless of eaceac; no matter experience from ernal, cease.
Dont those who wield swords are brave people.
A s the man is a coward.
Statues in ty square of tatues of cowards.
t is co kill and to be killed.
But man creates a strange deception.
ends about -- all because of fear.
Deep doo die -- people are dying every day.
h has passed, old age is approaching.
s , but inside erating, quot;tal.
quot; ries to muster up ells ;Dont be afraid.
Of course deat tal.
quot; Around sucalk about tality of ther in big crowds.
I am not saying t immortal.
I am saying is t trine of tality of trine of th.
Knoality of totally different thing.
And remember, only tality of t .
to be understood.
ire vital energy t is diffused, spread all around, it contracts, returns to its center.
tial energy t is reac to every nook and corner of our bodies, o its core.
For example, if o sher.
At some point t o t o tself.
And o dim it even furt would be lodged in seed form and darkness would surround you.
So tal energy of our life surns to its oer.
Again it becomes a seed, an atom, ready for a new journey.
Because of traction, tial energy, one feels, quot;I am dying! I am dying!quot; one aken to be life until to slip ao drop.
A mans limbs start losing trengto become s of breat becomes poorer, his ears become hard of hearing.
In fact, all too, because of tion h some energy.
And once to recede, tially lifeless, becomes lifeless once again.
ter prepares to leave and te.
And t;; At t of deato feel, quot;I am going.
I am sinking, the end is near.
quot;
t ate, ty of dying, t errible suffering to a mans mind t o be ah.
to knoo be peaceful.
Instead, a man becomes so restless death is.
e imes before, an infinite number of times, but h is.
Eacime t of deaturbed, so restless, so troubled -- state? kno we .
No, deat be kno t of dying, but one can certainly h.
A planned deatation, yoga, samadhi.
Samad t t, otself in death.
In samad about by knohin.
Obviously, to feel restless, because ing he consciousness in.
itracts thin.
death does anyway, he does himself.
And in t silent state te things.
t emanates electricity is one tricity t is emanated from it is another.
ricity contracts totally, there, lifeless.
tric bulb.
Life is tricity, tal force t keeps ted.
In samads death.
And because ers deato knorut e from his body.
Once it is kno quot;I am separate from t; death is finished.
And once tion bethe experience of life has begun.
take place at t, simultaneously.
Knohere is life.
If understood correctly, t thing.
ters in tion.
of dying.
You mig I en said religion is t of living.
I certainly talk about boto die is able to know w life is.
Religion is t of living and dying.
If you o learn t of arily.
Only t otherwise.
t is not difficult.
Its easy to pull this energy inside.
t will.
the will.
It is merely a matter of will.
One just needs a determined resolve to go hin.
If you resolve t for to turn to die, you to dro to o experiencing traction of energy.
It ate in we from you.
A deep t e from you; you can see your oant from you.
First you inside, you are standing separate -- radiating, like a flame.
You ire body from his building.
ittle more courage you can even bring tside, and from outside you can see there, removed from you.
Let me tell you an incredible experience I had.
It occurred to me; I old it before.
About seventeen or eigo meditate until late at nigting in top of a tree.
I en felt ter influence over you if you meditate sitting on the ground.
tates sitting on the ground.
All talk of to tions -- to tains, to t reason; its very scientific.
ter tance bet on the body.
So I used to meditate every nigting in a tree.
One night
.
I dont knoion, and I dont kno my body fell from tree, but art to see w had happened.
I ill in tree, but the body had fallen below.
Its difficult to say at t time.
I ill sitting in tree and the body was below.
Only a single silver cord connected me he navel of my body -- a very shiny silver cord.
would was beyond my comprehension.
urn to my body?
I dont knoe lasted, but it ional experience.
For t time I saside, and from t very day on to exist.
Since to see anot from to experience tle body.
Its difficult to say ed.
its on their heads.
As tree there.
t next to the body.
I chis from above.
It seems took to be dead.
t, as if by a potraction, I came back into the body and my eyes opened.
At t point I experienced sometoo.
I felt t a e a chemical change in a mans body, and so can a man in a womans body.
I also urn to the body.
Subsequently, I his kind.
tantrikas of India, ensively oo.
During intensive experiences of samadle body, cannot return a he physical body.
Similarly, a le body, cannot be broug a mans assistance.
As t, an electrical circuit is completed and t returns sly to the body.
Follo, I consistently six times in six months.
And in t I at least ten years off my life.
If I o live up to seventy, noo sixty.
I trange experiences in six mont turned we.
I couldnt compre was happening.
It occurred to me, tion bet body ured, errupted, t tment, t ed betwo, had broken down.
also occurred to me t ty-t ty-six hing else.
It becomes difficult to live once tion betly.
th illnesses and Ramana died of cancer.
t pment betle bodies .
It is generally believed t yogis are trutely te.
trut early ages.
t tment beterrupted.
Once tle body comes out of t never reenters fully and tment is never completely restored.
But t is not needed.
t; it has no meaning.
it t, t;I to turn in, I to go back in, I to return to come back in.
quot; ere you to ense longing, sucion; if your e, intense desire to return to your center; if your entire body o pulsate can antly return to your core and, for t time, see your body from hin.
alks about teries and veins, it is not from t of view of physiology.
Yogis o do h physiology.
today one wonders weries and veins are.
ers yoga talks about? the body.
e cant find t tside.
to observe the inner physiology.
ts a subtle physiology.
ters of t inner potally different.
You find this physical body.
ters are tact fields beting points for both.
t meeting point is the navel.
You may iced, if you suddenly get into an accident driving a car, t to feel t.
t once, because act field bet of all.
Seeing deater to become disturbed.
As soon as deated in relation to ter.
ternal arrangement of ted from tact bethe inner body.
tact fields.
So obviously, to knoo knootally different kind of ogetely not.
Medical science kno it, and for some time.
Once you experience t te from you, you are finish.
You come to knoh.
And tually come out of t it yourself from outside.
Questions relating to life and deat matters of pap.
t thing.
I am talking about is an existential approach.
It can be kno quot;I am life;quot; it can be kno quot;I am not going to die.
quot; One can live ter into it.
But t;ell t life is,quot; may t it a million times, may t it life after life, but t knohing.
on earto t?
e can only t someto us.
About somet.
You can only t t wo you.
ever occurred to you t you cant t you dont kno kno knoh is.
are o ts life and deatotally hless.
soever is ten about life and deatten it after a lot of thinking.
It is not a question of ting about it.
Except for h words.
yoga is concerned o do ential, living experience.
t tal is not a t is not an ideology.
It is tain individuals.
Only can experience alone solve t; is life? is deat; And as soon as you o kno life is, t deat -- t only life is, t t all.
tion to say t deat happens.
And owards a new home begins.
e set out, leaving one her.
ted capability.
this house is a machine.
It , it gets tired, and .
If science o keep two hree hundred years.
But t prove there is no soul.
It t need to c science a o fix the old house.
Nevertists s remain under t by increasing ty of man to five o a there is no soul in man.
It prove anything.
It rate t because to , to c.
Nos of t, to change bodies.
In t case t is now repaired.
But t even remotely prove the body.
It is also possible t in ture science may succeed in creating a cest tube, in producing life.
And tists may fall under ted life.
But t would also be wrong.
Let me say too: suc prove anyther.
akes place? toget create a soul in t create a situation wer.
s of man and , an opportunity is created for to enter the womb.
It may be t soon scientists may create a similar situation in a test tube, but t is not ting a soul.
tem too; its a test tube.
It is a natural system.
Soon, s in ory may succeed in producing tion in a test tube.
In t case, souls, er test tubes.
But even so, it be taking birt ill just be arriving.
t -- tion of the soul.
ture looks very dangerous and dark as far as there is no soul.
But tence of t be disproved by it, it o turn hin himself.
If, because of increased longevity and tion of test tube babies, man so believe tence of t be disproved, only tinuing inner searco an end.
And tunate circumstance is sure to occur in t fifty years.
In t fifty years, t.
tche world.
t: to eat nor proper cloto wear.
But from t of vie as it is today.
to believe tion of turning in doesnt arise.
Once y believes the whole idea of reaching inside is finished.
ture may turn out to be terribly bleak and dangerous.
ts must be carried out in all corners of t a feand up and assert -- not merely an assertion of rines, not just a reiteration of ta, t a living affirmation, quot;I kno the body.
quot; And t be just a verbal declaration, it sed tire way of living.
Only ty -- otific development urn man into a macomaton.
to believe t.
is o say.
Even to ty of people .
But once in a whe inner walls.
A Ma, a Lao tzu breaks ters hin.
But ty of such a phenomenon happening again is decreasing every day.
I say: Only life is, deat.
But it may be t in t one ;Only deat.
quot; t.
People asserting it have already come forward.
After all, o Marx, quot;Matter is, God is not.
And o you is not a byproduct of matter.
quot; Marx says, quot;th is.
quot; No and only th is.
You may not be a, but w Marx has said is gaining ground.
t up to nohese people.
Up to noion of ats.
Ci, Epicurus and many otence of t tion.
Marx is t at in ted an organized church.
today, s fold, and t in t fifty years.
ts, of course, but all t can be known, recognized, are closing down one by one.
Life is t all ties of connecting are fading away.
Before all ttle bit of ability and courage s on t to turn he experience.
If even one wo of danger.
the few.
Even a tiny lamp cuts through a long darkness.
itality of tmospire life of the village will change.
A single flos fragrance spreads to faraway places.
tality of t tion of t of an entire village.
try is full of sading quot;talquot; -- them, a huge crowd.
And yet, sucer! Sucry! tion proves they are all involved in a double-dealing business.
None of t the soul.
Look at t t toon of sad t circus of sadry.
Some cloics aff in t yet anotype of circus! Sucry is in sucs o believe.
the world.
I o say they are wrong.
the same.
In t, around ter was high because of a few self-realized individuals.
the same; he has remained unchanged.
ted human consciousness.
talytic agent and ed human life.
ty for t loate of er lies es and cans religion.
ty for it wsoever.
Neither did he before, nor does he now.
If you to cop talking nonsense about improving t of eac teacion to everyone.
If you to co be o go tense inner experiments.
to undergo t deep hemselves
Not too many, just a hundred people.
If a ry reac of kno entire country omatically uplifted.
itry can be uplifted.
I agreed to speak on t only because I felt t in case some courageous man came fore ;Come on! If you are ready to go on an ino take you.
t can be s life is and h is.
quot;