The higher Values of Life

VII

Once in India when a certain young man died, his body was carried to the cremation ground. There were about three or four hundred people there, and I was one of them. They wanted me to give a talk, most opportune for the moment.

I told them: 

Well, the subject of the talk is lying before you. Something left that body, but that something is still in you. But are you prepared for this change? If not, prepare yourself. Just solve the mystery of life, how to leave the body, how to rise above body consciousness.

If death overtakes you, you will be prepared. You will have no sting. That is how you can have victory over death. All of you have to leave your bodies. 

The fifth Guru of the Sikhs said:

You see yourselves that such physical frames as ours which others carried, had to be left behind. Where are your forefathers? Where are all those Masters Who came in the past? They all had bodies and left them. There can be no exception in your case.

If the government issues an eviction order, that order is carried out, whether you like it or not. There may be some delay in the execution of the order; you might approach somebody and have some concession made. But when the order is issued from God, there is no concession. You have to leave the body and go.

It is wise to learn how to leave the body. What is it that leaves the body? If you have solved that problem, you have conquered the fear of death.

In the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic, we have an episode of Yaksha and Prince Yudishtra. When the latter went to a fountain to quench his thirst, Yaksha asked him to desist on pain of death and answer his question first, What is the most curious thing going on in the world? Yudishtra answered, We daily see that people leave behind their bodies which are cremated or buried. We have attended such funeral ceremonies. But we do not believe in the least, nor do we ever take into our head, that we also have to leave the body. People are dying, but we never think that we too shall die. We carry these dead bodies on our shoulders, we cremate them with our own hands. And with all that, we do not have the least thought in ourselves that we have also to leave the body. This is the strangest of all things.

Where are your brothers, your forefathers, and others? They all lived like you and departed; you too have to leave some day. The wise man is he who prepares himself to leave the body.

That will be the subject for my next talk. In this talk we have dwelt on the higher values of life. The physical body has its own value. This body is a temple of God; maintain it. God resides in every heart; visible and invisible too would meet in man. You have your families as the reaction of the past; maintain them. Love all humanity; that is the second of the greatest commandments that you have in hand. You have intellect; develop it by all means. But even that must perish with the body. Life is more than meat, the body is more than raiment and all possessions. But you are acting in quite a contrary way. You consider that the bodies and outer environments are the alpha and the omega of life.

Some people come to me and say: ‘We do appreciate what You say. We want to know about the mystery of life. We have been in search of that.’ But when they are asked to attend the discourse, they say: ‘I have to attend to my job. I cannot come.’

I mean to say that for your urgent affairs you have to readjust your engagements. When anyone falls ill at home, you take some time off your job. But the Highest Truth has not taken possession of your hearts. That is the most important thing in life and you have no time for it.

When you leave the body, who is going to help you? If you know your Self, how to leave the body, only then at that time will you be able to leave the body without pain. Somebody Who knows that mystery and is competent might be able to help you; but no one else, not even your nearest kith and kin, not even the greatest physician can be of any service.

This is the most important problem of our life. But we only postpone it to the last. The pigeon may shut his eyes at the sight of an approaching cat; but that does not save him. We too cannot solve the problem of death by turning our faces away from it. We must grapple with it and conquer death or else death shall conquer us.

The end of life must come. That is what the scriptures tell us, that is what all the Masters tell us. But we just do not care. 

Guru Nanak says:

You are either a child with intellect yet undeveloped or you are stark blind.

The question now arises: Who is it that can help you on the Way? Well, the One Who has solved that mystery for Himself and is competent to give you an experience of how to rise above body consciousness, opening the Inner Eye and seeing the Light of God – call Him by any name you like.

If you just sit at His feet with a receptive mind and a loving heart, you will succeed in solving this mystery of life. The Highest Mission of a man’s life is to know himself and to know God. But he is engaging in frivolous pursuits. This is seen by those who are awakened and enlightened.