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Death Can be a Gateway to Liberation
I asked Master how destruction could ever be justified. Master
answered, “Yes, you have some doubt. But it is there only because you
are thinking in a narrow way. Think of destruction as change. What happens
when you cut down a tree? The tree is destroyed. But the carpenter makes
furniture out of it. So the wood is used. The wood is still there, the
form has changed. When a person dies we think it is the end. Death is
final, that is our view. But it is not correct. What we see as death
is only the rebirth into another life. Similarly what we see as birth,
when a baby is born, must be death in another life, giving birth here.
You understand this? It is only a change of form. The life goes on and
on, but the form keeps changing until a fortunate person finds a Master
who can grant him his liberation.”
I requested Master to explain whether death could be considered
a liberation in itself. Some people feel that this is so. Master replied,
“Death does not solve the problems of life, but it creates intricacies
for the next life. Death sends one to another state, so that, one may
not feel the continuity of trouble. There must be some pause between
this life and the next life to come. Men are kept in dungeons. But if
they are there for years in a gloomy dungeon they will require a change.
So they are brought out to exercise once in a while before they go into
it again. Death is like that. Really speaking only fools die,
and not the saints. Saints are everlasting in their own regime.
So, death is of value for the other troubled persons; for the saints
it is an unraveled object. Now I tell you something very important,
Life in life should be our real object.”
Master once told me that the moment most appropriate, or
easy, for liberation is the moment of death. He said, “At the moment
of death it is very easy to liberate anybody. I just take him and put
him up there.” He raised his hand, pointing from a low level to a high
level, as if removing a bottle from a lower shelf and putting it on
a higher shelf! “Later on it becomes difficult. The soul must not have
taken rebirth. Suppose it has taken rebirth and I liberate it, the person
it has been reborn as will die! And if it has taken several rebirths
then nothing can be done. You see this difficulty! So I say try for
it in this life itself. Who is to say whether the Master can be free
to serve you at the exact moment of your death? So try for it now. I
tell you one thing. Heart is heart if it is diverted to God. Soul is
soul if it jumps into the ultimate Reality. We have to try to reach
the changeless state. When we have a goal like that, then changes are
necessary. Changes develop power for the Ultimate growth.”
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