The higher Values of Life

III

Looking from without we notice that the body lives as long as soul, the indweller of the house, is with it. But the time does come when we have to leave the body. That is the day of the great final change, or death. But do not be frightened of death; it is no bugbear.

I have told you that the greatest study of man is man. All the scriptures came from where? Of course, from man – a man of realisation, no doubt. Great indeed is man. All inventions came from where? From man. Godhood, which gave us a first-hand experience of God, working through the Human Poles called Masters, also was expressed through man.

Man is great and the greatest study for a man is man himself. Who are you? What is it that enlivens this body and what is it that leaves it? While that Inner Self or the Spiritual Self is fixed in the body and working through the body, you are alive, you are moving. But the time does come when you have to leave the body. That is the fate awaiting each one of you, no exception to the rule. All kings and subjects, the rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant and even the Masters have to leave the body. How can there be an exception in your case? If so, are you prepared for that final change? If not, you must prepare yourself. And for that, you must solve the mystery of life while there is still time. You must examine your own Self. Who is the real man in the body? Unless you know that, you cannot be at peace.

Buddha, who was first called Gautama, was a prince brought up in a princely way amid luxury and opulence. Once he was visiting the town which was decorated tastefully to welcome him. As he passed through the city in a chariot, he saw an old man with haggard face, sunken eyes, and tottering frame. The old man staggered along with the help of a stick. Looking at the old man, the prince asked his charioteer, What was that? – Old age, my lord; the body must grow old and weak, the charioteer replied. That shocked him greatly.

Proceeding further, he saw a dying man, gasping for breath, and again asked what it was. The charioteer replied: Well, Master, we must die and leave the body. He is dying. He is gasping for breath. That made him still more sad and pensive. The prince wondered if that was the fate of our lovely bodies. The charioteer took him out of the city to avoid ugly sights.

But outside the city, the prince saw four men carrying a corpse. He naturally asked what it was, and was told: Well, Master, we have to leave the body. This made the prince all the more gloomy and he exclaimed: It is strange that we must some day leave our beautiful bodies; but what is it that leaves?

That was the greatest day in Gautama’s life. He was awakening, wondering what it was that enlivened the body.

We too have the same sort of bodies. We have witnessed so many cremations and burials. We have attended a great many funerals of our friends and relatives, but the mystery of life has never struck us, as it struck Gautama.

Gautama went home. He had a son. That is generally a very happy day. But he was absorbed with that mystery of life. He left his home, wife and son to seek the solution of the mystery of life – What am I? Who is it that leaves the body?

As long as the Inner Self is working in this physical body, we are alive, we are talking, we are thinking, we are moving about. But when that leaves the body, it is cremated or buried. No one keeps the dead body in the house. It is disposed of as soon as possible.

This is the problem before us. We have to consider it very calmly, with due deliberation. We have to look into it to discover what it is: Who am I? What am I?