Death Is the Only Certainty

Death Is the Only Certainty

“Death is already happening, so don’t put it in the future.

“If you don’t put it in the future there is no question of defending yourself; if it is already happening – and it has been already happening always – then there is no question of protecting yourself against death. Death has not killed you; it has been happening while you were still alive.

“It is happening just now, and life is not destroyed by it. In fact, because of it life renews itself each moment: the old leaves fall, they make space for the new leaves to come; the old flowers disappear, the new flowers appear.

One door closes, another immediately opens. Each moment you die and each moment there is resurrection.

“Once a Christian missionary came to me and he asked, ‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ’s resurrection?’

“I told him that there is no need to go so far. Each moment everybody is resurrected. But he could not understand. It is difficult for people who are too much into their ideology.

“He said, ‘But do you believe that he was crucified? Is this not just a myth, or is it a reality? What do you think?’

“I said to him again that everybody is crucified every moment. That is the whole meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion and his resurrection.

Whether it is historical or not does not matter a bit. It is simply irrelevant to think whether it happened or not – it is happening.

“Each moment the past is crucified, the old leaves disappear. And each moment a new being arises in you, resurrects. It is a constant miracle.

“The second thing to understand about death is that death is the only certainty. Everything else is uncertain: it may happen, it may not happen. Death is certain because in birth, half of it has already happened, so the other end must be somewhere, the other pole must be somewhere in the dark. You have not come across it because you are afraid, you don’t move in the dark. But it is certain: with birth, death has become a certainty.

Once this certainty penetrates your understanding, you are relaxed. Whenever something is absolutely certain, then there is no worry. Worry arises out of uncertainty.

“Watch: a man is dying and he is very worried. The moment death becomes certain and the doctors say, ‘Now you cannot be saved,’ he is shocked. A shivering goes through his being, but then things settle, and immediately all worries disappear. If the person is allowed to know that he is going to die and death is certain, with that certainty a peace, a silence comes to his being.

“Every person who is dying has the right to know it. Doctors go on hiding it many times, thinking, ‘Why disturb?’ But uncertainty disturbs; certainty, never. This hanging in between, this being in limbo – wondering whether one is going to live or die – this is the root cause of all worry. Once it is certain that you are going to die then there is nothing to do. Then one simply accepts it, and in that acceptance a calmness, a tranquility happens.

“So if the person is allowed to know that he is going to die in the moment of death he becomes peaceful. In the East we have been practicing that for millennia. Not only that, in countries like Tibet particular techniques were evolved to help a man to die. They called it Bardo Thodol.

When a person was dying, friends, relatives and acquaintances would gather together around him to give him the absolute certainty that he was going to die, and to help him to relax; if you can die in total relaxation, the quality of death changes.

“Your new birth somewhere will be of a higher quality because the quality of birth is decided by death. And then, in turn, it will decide the quality of another death. That’s how one goes higher and higher, one evolves. And whenever a person becomes absolutely certain about death, a flame arises on his face – you can see it. In fact, a miracle happens: he becomes alive as he has never been before.

In the first part of this talk Between Life and Death, Osho speaks on the fact that death is already happening whether we face it or not. 

To continue reading and see all available formats of this talk:
Osho, Ancient Music in the Pines, Talk #8 – Life, Death and Love

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