Moments of Separation

 

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Moments of Separation

We all have to leave at some time or another – the only truth about birth and life is death. It cannot be denied – the causal body takes birth and dies – but there is something within that is permanent, indestructible! All of us mortals come to grief when someone near and dear passes away – but Osho, when he merged with universal consciousness told his disciples to rejoice and celebrate because on leaving the causal body, he will be with each and every one of them.

When we even leave any meditation camp in the proximity of the living Master, we feel sad, we feel that these days should never end, because we are in the presence of a powerful aura which radiates joy and bliss. But we need to remember that every parting is the beginning of something new. Parting is inherent in coming together again – they are the two sides of the same coin.

Although they appear to be different, they always go together. Because they show up separately and on different occasions, we are deluded into the false belief that they are not connected. But if we go a little deeper, we will find that meeting is itself a parting, that happiness is also grief and that even birth itself is death. Indeed, there is hardly any difference between coming and going – or rather, there is no difference at all. It is the same in life. We have hardly come when the process of going begins, and what appears to our minds to be staying on is merely a preparation for leaving.

Really, what is the distance between birth and death? The distance between them can be endless. In life, if this distance between birth and death, becomes a pursuit for self-realisation, this distance can have no end to it at all. If life becomes a sadhana, a journey to self-realisation, death can become moksha, liberation. While there is not much distance between birth and death, the span between moksha and death is infinite. That distance is as great as the one between body and soul, between a dream and the truth. That distance is much greater than all other distances put together. No two points are greater apart than moksha and death.

The illusion that “I am the body” is death; the realisation that “I am the soul” is liberation, salvation, moksha, nirvana. And our life is an opportunity for the realisation of truth. If this opportunity for the realisation of truth is used properly and not wasted in vain, the distance between birth and death becomes infinite.

After attending Swamiji’s shibir, some of us feel a tremendous change within us. This change needs to be made permanent through determination, commitment and meditation with complete, unconditional surrender, and soon the destination will be reached.