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                             "Learning to Die"

(This talk was given in an informal setting and was originally published
with brief comments or conversations not related to the subject of the
talk. These parts have been omitted here and marked as [...]. The reader
may also wish to consult the Mystery of Death for an in depth discussion of
this topic)

COMMENT: Now Madame Hardevi will sing a song.

[Madame Hardevi (Taiji) sings a hymn to the Master: "It is strange, but
people who are afraid to die come to You to learn to die untimely deaths.
"]

Whoever has been born must leave the body some day. There is no exception
to the rule. This leaving of the body is what is called "death." All men,
whether they are high or low, rich or poor, have to leave the body. The
man-body has been given to us only for a temporary period. This is a golden
opportunity, for in this body we can know God and know ourselves. To know
God, we must know ourselves firstwho we are and what we are.

Most of our life has already passed. This physical body is the first
companion that we have when we enter the world, but it does not go along
with us. So, naturally, all the things with which we come in contact
through this physical body cannot go along with us. A wise man is one who
works with foresight: he asks "What is that thing that we can keep, that we
can take with as even after leaving the body?"

All Masters say, "We cannot know him unless we learn to die while alive."
The last enemy that we have to conquer is death. But how can we conquer
death? There is no escape from it, no exception to the rule. Even the
Masters Who came herethe very incarnations of Godhad to leave the body;
and we also have to leave it. How are we to conquer death when there is no
escape? I think the only victory over it we can have is to learn how to
die.

What happens at the time of death? The soul leaves the body: the life-force
is withdrawn from underneath the feet, goes up and reaches the back of the
eyes; the eyes are upturned, and the drop-scene (a term used for drop or
act-drop; also for the final scene of a play or drama in real life, that on
which the curtain drops) falls. Now, if we know how to leave the body at
will and rise above body-consciousnessif we die daily by learning to leave
the body dailythen there is no fear of death. Death is no bugbear, it is a
change from the physical world into the Beyond

So all Masters Who came said, "Learn to die so that you may begin to live."
Death appears to be a bugbear to each one of us. If anyone says, "Oh, you
have to die," we do not like to hear the word of death. But we have to
leave the body.

Why are we afraid of death? For two reasons one, we do not know how to
leave the body. You might have seen on the faces of men dying what agony
they are passing through. The second thing is, we do not know what our fate
will be after leaving the body. Where are we to go? So these are the two
main causes of fearing death. So Master says, "You must learn how to leave
the body." He tells people who are afraid of death to pass through this
death process while they are alive, and there are many ways for that. Some
are artificial, man-made. And some are natural, God-made. The man-made ways
are difficult arduous time-consuming; and we are by heredity not fit for
them. But there is a natural way, too.

When you leave the body, it is said you see that all glory and beauty lie
within you but now we have no glimpse of it, no experience of it. Tulsidas,
a great Saint, tells us that when He left the body and reached the causal
plane, it was so beautiful and so enchanting that He thought this is the
best of all that a man can have. But, He says, when He transcended the
causal plane into the Mahabrahmand, the pleasure and bliss that He felt
there was so much greater than the bliss He had while in the causal plane,
that it seemed in comparison to be a washroom. Do you see? We hear so much
about the Beyond, but we still do not know how to leave the body and enter
the inner planes.

So when Masters come They advise. "Learn to die so that you may begin to
live." One man went to Prophet Mohammed and said to him "You tell us to
learn to die, to 'die while alive."' And Prophet Mohammed said, "If you
want to reap the full fruit of having the man body, then go, learn to die!
Leave the body at will."

Then the man was perhaps afraid of leaving the body, and he asked, "Is it a
death that will lead me to the grave?"

And Prophet Mohammed said, "No, it is not such a death that will lead you
from darkness to light."

This is what all other Masters said. Is it possible to die, to leave the
body at will? Masters say yes. It was asked of St. Paul whether men can
die. He said, "I die daily." Guru Nanak was also asked, and He said, "I die
a hundred times a day." So all Masters give us that advice. Death now
appears so fearful to us; but those who have learned how to die, to leave
the body at will and traverse into the Beyond, who have tasted the bliss of
the Beyond, want to leave the body; but they are controlledthey have to
work in this plane under the will of God.

It so happened at the time of death of Maulana Rumi, a Mohammedan Saint,
that as He was on His death bed and leaving the body, some friends of His
came in and prayed, 'O God, let Him recover." And He opened His eyes and
said, "Let this recovery be for you. "

And they asked Him, "Don't You want to recover?"

He said, "No."

"Why?" they asked.

He said, "In my daily life I could hardly snatch away some time to leave
the body and go into the lap of my Father. The body stands in the way
between me and God. Now the time has come for this curtain of the body to
be rent asunder, once for all. Wouldn't you like me to leave the body and
go into the lap of the Father, once for all?"

Do you see the angle of vision? That is why it is said, "Why should we weep
for the Saints? Why should we weep for the Master? They go to Their Homes."
We should weep for those who have spoiled their lives, who have not learned
how to die while alive. If you once know how to leave the body and traverse
into the Beyond, to have an experience of that and bliss, then naturally,
you would like to be there. For that reason, you will find as Kabir says,
"Every day man is dying. But he has not learned to die while alivethe true
livingthe death, while alive. That is why he comes again and again, and
again: because man goes where he is attached."

Can we leave the body at will? That's the point. Mira Bai says yes. "Now I
am convinced," she says, "that my soul, my surat can traverse into the
Beyondcan fly into the Beyond." Tulsidas was asked the same thing, and He
said that we can traverse into the Beyond. Who can? The Saints and others
who sit at Their feet.

So when you go to a Master, the first lesson He gives you is to die while
alive, and how to die. He gives an experience of it; you forget your body
for awhile; and your inner eye is opened; you have the experience of God in
the form of Light and Sound Principle. If you are regular in doing this
from day to day, you will have no fear of death.

The hymn she was just singing was to the Master. It goes: "We have seen a
very strange event. People are afraid of death, and yet they are coming of
their own will and pleasure: they want to die while alive. And these same
men are having their untimely deaths daily at the feet of the Master."

Whoever can tell us how to leave the body at will and go into the Beyond
can give us an experience of how to do it, by demonstration. Then, by
regular practice, we must learn how to die at will. If we once know how to
leave the body, then our whole angle of vision will be changed. The Master
gives us some experience on the first day of Initiation of how to rise
above the body, of how to open the inner eye; He gives us something to
start with. Then, by day to day regular practice, we learn to die.

Regular practice makes us regular. If you know I leave the body daily, when
the time of death comes, you will go willingly. So I have now, for
instance; I am going back; I have no fear of going back.

Unless a man learns how to leave the body at will, how can he enter the
Kingdom of God? It is within you. "The Kingdom of God cannot be had by
observation; It is within you."

This is the first step; it begins, you might say where the ABC of Para
vidya, the knowledge of the Beyond, starts. This is a religion above all
religions of rites, rituals, and dogmas. It is one for all. Plutarch tells
us, "The soul that is initiated into the mysteries of the Beyond has the
same experience that it has at the time of leaving the body at death." So,
this is perhaps a very wonderful thing: people are afraid of dying, and
they are willingly coming and asking, "Master, tell us how to die!" There
is no question of being a Hindu or a Mohammedan or of belonging to any
other religion. Those are outward formsbadges we are carrying. But this
fate awaits us all, without exception. This is what the Masters teach. This
is one thing that awaits everyone; and if you do not learn how to leave the
body, you must be in the agony.

This is the mystery of life that has to be solved. "There so many mansions
in the house of our Father"; there are so many planes in all of creation.
God has given us bodies, according to those planes, to work through, when
we want to. But the pity is that we cannot transcend the physical body. All
the methods that we follow pertain to the outgoing faculties. They are
meant for the preparation of the ground, for developing love and devotion
in us. They are good actions. But unless you learn to leave the body at
will and be conscious of that God Power controlling all of creation, you
cannot become selfless.

So all Masters say that the world at large bases its knowledge either on
feelings or on emotions or on inferences, drawn to come to some conclusion.
But they are all subject to error. Seeing is above all. Seeing arises when
we shake off this physical body; then it develops more and more as we rise,
the other bodies. The macrocosm is in the microcosm of the manbody. We have
bodies, relating to the various planes, that enable us to traverse those
planes at our will and pleasure. Suchlike Personalities Who know the Way
and can put you on the Way have been rare in the past, and are rare even
now. To advance requires development by regular practice. Perseverance,
steadiness and good character are three things of the utmost importance.

So the hymn that you have just heard was addressing the Master: "O Master,
we see a very strange thing: we see that People are afraid of death, and
yet they are coming to You to learn that very thinghow to die." It is
because there lies the door to heaven; it opens when you rise above
body-consciousness. This is what Christ said: "Except you be born anew, you
cannot enter the Kingdom of God." And then Nicodemus said, "Lord, I am old
man; how can I reenter the womb of the mother and be reborn?" And Christ
said to him, "Marvel not I say unto you, you must be reborn."

First learn to die. The first birth we have is in the flesh. This is the
second birth: to be reborn. "Flesh is born of the flesh and spirit of the
spirit." The first is born of the corruptible seed, " and the other of the
"incorruptible seed. "

This is not a new thing: all Masters have been referring to it. In the
olden days in India, the rishis had the custom to make children twice-born.
Reborn or twice-born means the same thing. First they were born in the
flesh; then they were made to be born into the Beyondthat is counted as
being twice-born. That twice-born custom was performed only by the
religious leaders who Were competent to give the children an experience to
be born anew into the Beyond. Even now the system continues. They used to
give them the Gayatri mantra. They had the competency to raise their soul
above body consciousness and to open their inner eye to see light compared
to the sun rising. Now the system is there; the same mantra is given; but
they are not competent to give them the experience of being reborn or
twice-born.

So these Truths are not new ones. All past Masters always gave Them out.
These are the old, old Truths that we have forgotten. You cannot learn Them
from those who are merely adept in the elementary steps, although we have
many people like that.

[...]

So what is death? Death is only a transference from the physical world to
the Beyond. When you first learn to die, your whole angle of vision is
changed. When you get more bliss inside, , you naturally become unattached
outside. If you do serve humanity, you will serve it from the angle of
vision of the soul and of God residing in every heart.

So these are the Truths that have been given by almost all Masters.
Strangely enough, we find that people are afraid of death, yet they are
coming to the feet of the Master to learn how to die willingly. Untimely
deaths are occurring. Those who come to the Master are given a meditation
sitting. They rise above body-consciousness for a while; they see, "Oh,
this body is gone!" The inner eye opens; they begin to see the Light and
hear the Voice of God, too. That is why Christ said to His disciples,
"Blessed are you, for you see things that the old prophets and righteous
men could not see; you hear things that the old prophets and righteous men
could not hear."

So when you come to a Master, you know how to die. When you know how to
die, then there is no fear of death; you die daily. As Guru Nanak said,
"Learn to die a hundred times a day will." So the first step that we have
to take is to rise above the iron curtain of the manbody. Then you know
yourself; you come in contact with God; you have the Bread of Life and the
Water of life, which is Word personified; you become spiritually healthy.
On the spiritual health depends the health of both the mind and body.

These are the teachings that were given by all Masters Who came in the
past. These teachings still stand. But for want of practical people, we
have forgotten them, that's all. For that, of course, purity of heart is
required. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." This is
what all Masters have said. [...]

We have joined various schools of thought only for that purpose: the
solving of the mystery of life. When you solve it; then you can help
others, too. This is a practical subject of Self-analysis. The elementary
steps we have in almost all religions. To remain in some religion is a
blessing. If you don't remain there, either new ones will have to be formed
or there will be corruption. So it is better to remain in your own truth;
there is no need of changing; it is the first step you have taken; that's
all right. Reading scriptures and performing rites and rituals are meant
only for developing love and devotion for God and a desire to know God.
They are good actions. But the mystery of life is to be solved in this way:
by knowing oneself.

We now say, "This is my watch, I can lay it aside"; I say, "This is my
coat, I can take it off"; but I say, "This is my body, I cannot remove it
altogether." This is something to be learned at the feet of the Master.

So the poet of this hymn says, "Strangely enough people are afraid of death
and they are coming willingly to the feet of the Master to die: not only to
die, but to meet with untimely deaths, deaths which do not lead them to the
grave, but give them more light"from darkness to light. This subject is
common to all.

[...]

So I have a common ground for all. To practice It requires to change of
religion, but to be true to one's own religion. These truths already stand;
but we have forgotten Them, that's all. A true Christian is one who sees
the Light of God, and a true Sikh, Hindu, or Mohammedan is also one who
sees the Light of God. Those who see the Light of God are nearer to God,
and they derive the full benefit of joining any particular religion.

These Truths already exist in all scriptures. But to have the right import
of Them, we need some Man Who knows the Way. If we want to interpret Them
only at the level of the intellect, then we cannot do full justice to the
work. The intellectuals say it is the light of the intellect. Well, it is
true Light; people see it; even children see it. Every day, they are having
it. Persons Who can give that experience were rare in the past; even now
They are rare; yet the world is not without Them. But we can have the right
understanding and the true import of the scriptures only at the feet of
Someone Who has had that very experience in life and Who is competent to
give us Light. That is why it was said, "The Son knows the Father and
others to whom the Son reveals him." The Sonship continues. Christ existed
before Jesus and exists even now. Christ is the God Power; it continues
working at different human poles for the guidance of the child Humanity.
They called It Christ power- they called it Master Power; they called it
Guru Power.

Blessed are they who, with the Grace of God, have this manbody. The highest
aim before us is to know God. And to know God, we must know ourselves; not
as a matter of feeling or emotions or drawing inferences, but as a matter
of self-analysis. Seeing is above all.

If people understand from this level, there will be no duality. Unity
already exists. The way back to God is also very natural; but they have
forgotten, that's the pity. In their own zealousness, people consider
perhaps that they have the Only truth. Truth is for all. And there is a
religion of religions, a religion above all other religions; it is Truth.

[...]

THE MASTER: I will learn something. [He laughs.] A man learns and unlearns
all through life, you see. Wherever I go, I go as a student. I'm still a
student; I've been a student all through my life.

[...]

THE MASTER: Has anybody anything to say? Yes?

QUESTION: We have to rise above and overcome the body. Suppose a person has
been initiated not too long and he passes on. Will the Master meet him
there ?

THE MASTER: Surely, surely. It is God in him, not the son of man, mind
that.

QUESTION: No, what I mean is, the Master meets him; he doesn't go through
the angel of death or anything?

THE MASTER: Well, look here, I tell you. Those who have got the contact
with the God Power, with the Light within them, why should they go to the
angel of death?

QUESTION: I'm not talking about your older initiates, but the new ones that
have just come in.

THE MASTER: The new ones, also. They must have some experience to start
with. The seed is there; that is not lost, you see. That should have been
developed; if not, well, even then the seed is not lost. Yes, please?

QUESTION: If the initiation experience is one to learn to leave one's body
in order to see God, are we to conclude that there is no hope or means for
those who have not experienced initiation ? Are they lost?

THE MASTER: I tell you. There is food for the hungry and water for the
thirsty. Demand and supply is the law of nature. Where fire burns, oxygen
comes to help. The guru appears when the chela is ready. If a man has
desire in his heart to know God, as God resides in every heart, He knows
this child is after Me; He makes some arrangement to bring him in contact
somewhere where he can be put on the Way. And who can put him on the Way?
No son of man can do it. When God has no equal, no brother, no father, no
mother, who can give you a contact with Him? God is Light; God is Sound
Principle. the Music of the Spheres. Wherever God is manifest, that
manifested God at the human pole will be able to raise your soul above
body-consciousness and give you a contact with God Himself. And those who
have the desire for it are having it. "Ask and it shall be given unto you.'
"Knock and it shall be opened unto you." Those who are ready are having it.
This readiness might come as a reaction of the past. And sometimes, when a
man passes through many vicissitudes of life, he looks to some safer haven.
They have a sort of awakening; they have some inkling of a desire to know
God. And God makes some arrangement for them. They are all children of God.
God the Father loves the children. Those who are not initiated are not
because they are not ready yet. If they are, they must have it.

[...]


