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Death Is Inevitable
You know the story of Parikshit who was killed by Vasuki, the snake.
He was given a curse, and to save himself when the time came, it is
said he built a palace in the ocean, very far away where no snake could
possibly come. But Mrityu (death) cannot be stopped and a saint's
curse cannot possibly be erased or eradicated by anybody else except
him. And this huge, enormous, world-encircling Vasuki became a tiny
worn and went into a lemon and entered his palace. There it took its
' swaroopa' [true form] and confronted Parikshit and Parikshit
bowed humbly and said, "Yes, I welcome you." Mrityu
cannot be escaped. Why should we be afraid of it? As I have been telling
in the West, a life must mean a life in what we call life, and a life
in what we call death. Death is the night's half of life. Why are we
afraid of that?
There is no one on earth who has ever been able to defeat death. Not
the greatest king, not the greatest saint, not the greatest Gods. Rama
died, Krishna died, all these people died you see. Forget Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa and Vivekananda. It is said that Lord Ramachandra of Ramayana
died by walking into the river Sarayu. What happened to Lord Krishna?
Not so much misery. He enjoyed himself, you see. He was always happy,
always smiling. And finally an arrow of an archer hit Him on the right
big toe and He was dispatched. So when they have not been able to avoid
death, what are you going to avoid?
All these talks of Mruthunjaya Homa (sacrifice performed to
conquer death) and all, it is stupid nonsense, you see. How many Mruthunjaya
Homas have not been done in the past and in the present? You must
remember that beautiful story of the Buddha. When a woman went to him
with a dead child in her hands and said, "Lord, nobody is able
to give this child, my precious child, life. They say you can do it.
So I have come to you. Please do it." Immense faith, you see. They
say faith moves mountains. But it cannot give life. Now Buddha could
very well have said, "You stupid woman, who can give life to a
dead body?" He didn't do it. He wanted to teach her a lesson in
the only way it can be taught. He said, "My darling, my dear mother,
my child," everything you see, "I appreciate, I sympathize,
I weep with you for your loss. I shall restore this child on one condition.
You must beg and bring for me a handful of til (sesame seeds) from a
house in which death has never occurred." The woman is happy, you
see. "Here at last is a man, a yogi, who says I will give life
to your child." She forgot the rest. She says joyously, "Lord,
I leave this child at your feet. I will beg and come back soon."
House by house she begs. Everybody is willing to give, why a handful,
a bagful of til. Those were the days of generosity you see,
not the miserable materiality of today, where we cannot pay a five paise
to a beggar and we pay seven lakhs in income tax. Nobody could do it.
Everybody said, "Yes, here is the til."
"Has there been a death in your house?"
"What can I say my dear. My mousi (aunt) died day before yesterday."
In another house, "My husband died last week."
In yet another house, "My grandmother died."
Ultimately she realises death is a universal phenomenon.
Nobody can avoid it. She comes back to the Lord, falls at his feet and
becomes his disciple. That is the way of overcoming death. The point
of the story, I think most of our people have missed for the last three
thousand years that
the only way of overcoming death is
to fall at the feet of Master and say,
"Master! Take me. Before death takes me, you take me."
So if there is one way of avoiding death, which is the same
thing as acquiring immortality, you see, it is to go to the Master,
fall at His feet, seek His Blessings. This is what my Master taught
me.
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