Chapter TWELVE at Delaware, U.S.A.

This evening, many people gathered for a meeting with Dadaji, most for the first time. A woman present had recently had a loved one pass on. She was grieving so much that it was effecting many of those present.

Dadaji then started to speak of life, death, reincarnation and destiny. While the grieving woman sobbed, Dadaji smiled and even laughed, asking, "Who has died?

Is it possible to die? Let us try to understand. The Gita says: 'Certain is death for the born, and certain is birth for the dead, therefore over the inevitable thou should not grieve.'

You are grieving not for your loved one, but for your personal loss. You are thinking only of yourself. If you were thinking of the loved one, you would be sending thoughts of love and good cheer.

The departed one, whose body is off, is still with you in spirit, and they are telling you to stop crying and go on living.

The wise grieve neither for the dead, nor for the living. The main questions people ask is, 'Do the dead continue to exist? What happens after death of the body?

The suffering and grieving come from the separation experienced by those left behind. Even though they are assured that the loved one is fine. They mentally feel the pain of loss. This is a normal condition of the mind. Those who are wise and see with a total eye, are completely free from grief. If the mind could comprehend the continuity of the mind and spirit, and the discontinuity of the body, you would comprehend the meaning of life itself.

"Even though you believe in reincarnation, still it does not completely satisfy the emotions. You should spend some period of time adjusting your life to the fact that the person's body will no longer be seen. Take God's Name, and you will be consoled. God is with you before the birth of this body, during it's life, and after it's death. Nor I, nor thou, nor anyone of these, Ever was not, nor ever will not be, For ever and for ever afterwards. Nay, but as when one layeth His worn out robes away, And taking new ones sayeth, These will I wear today! So putteth by the Spirit Lightly it's garb of flesh, And passeth to inherit A residence afresh.

"Once God stops chanting within the body, God goes off, catches the mind or destiny stored up and together they enter a new birth, a new body to start again. 

Do not bother yourself to know exactly what happens, or where you go. There is

no place to go.

Half of the people do not want to experience birth again, for they have only experienced suffering and not God's Love. The other half want to come back in a body over and over again to experience God's Love and Peace and to enjoy God's creation.

I am telling you, do not be concerned either way. Take care of today properly and tomorrow will surely be more than alright.

"When it is time, let the body go peacefully, chanting God's Name. As you leave, so will you return. If you leave frightened, crying, and fighting, so you will be born."

DEATH OF THE BODY IS NATURAL.

DO NOT INTERFERE, FIND COMFORT IN IT.

There is a part of us that we call the Spirit, never was it born, never shall it cease to be. Never was the time it was not. End and beginning are dreams! Birth less and deathless and changeless remaineth the Spirit forever. Death had not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems. So many are buried alive in their bodies, and are experiencing a living death. Only with the Supreme can you feel alive. The one who feels this chanting within is never bored, life is a constant adventure for

which to give thanks.

"It is sad to leave this body dissatisfied, for then in the next birth we will be drawn boack to our old human conditions. Those who have nothing to say are always shouting at death. Your body is always in the hands of the One who loves you more than you could ever love yourself.

"The mind sees life and death only in part, never as a whole. If you could see the whole, you would see where your responsibility lies. The mind should be educated to the world of action and reaction. Do not be a fool and think you can swallow poison and not be poisoned. Do not spend your life training the mind and body to do tricks. Take God's Name."

SO MANY ARE UNHAPPY

AND IN MOURNING FOR THEIR LIVES

Remember that the plan you have for your life can be revised, God's plan cannot. If you cannot change your destiny, at least you can change your attitude.

"You have come here to do certain things, to have certain experiences, no question of good or bad. One is born in the gutter and winds up in a palace, another is born in a place winds up in the gutter. Whatever you do, do it with God in your mind. This will lend a Divine dignity to all your experiences. Even in prison, your fellow prisoners, guards, and captors will feel this dignity and power.

"To surrender your body in Love and with an alert mind is the highest. To surrender your superstitions, false beliefs in Love and alertness, is the highest. Not struggling, fighting to hold on to that which must inevitably perish.

"How to die depends on how to live. It is said that the last thought the mind has on leaving the body will determine its future birth. This thought will be what you have thought constantly. What you cling to, you will become. If the process of clinging is carried on into death of the body, the thought will continue, and death will not be known.

When thought is negated and the mind is at peace, then there is no sting, for the one who dies from moment to moment, will always be ready for any event. Then you have become truly deathless. Those who have spent their lives truly realizing God, will not be subjected to being kept alive in a coma. They will pass on alert and in love, completely aware of what is going on.

This is the person, who in the midst of their daily activities, felt alert and in love. At the moment of true death, all becomes a clear total picture. The person who is constantly aware of the Almighty God, thinking always on none else, by this one, I am easily reached. The Bible says, 'I am a jealous God, thou shalt have no other God's before me. Worship no idols.

Love me and my countenance shall shine upon you, and you will live in the house

of the Lord forever and ever.

BE OF GOOD CHEER, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE,

NOTHING TO GET. EVERYTHING THAT IS, IS WITHIN.

There is no point in arguing about Truth, God, reincarnation. This is for fools. You say God is good, and a flood has just come and taken the lives of thousands. You then reason, well, it swept away the uncleanness and restored the earth. The question comes, could God not have done this without taking the lives of innocent men, women, and children. Then we ought to believe God is cruel and unjust. Confusion results "Firstly, you should say, 'Oh, God, I am too feeble to understand Thy nature and Thy deeds. Enlighten me if you see fit and if not I will try to understand and accept my ignorance.'"

There is a story about a Saint who was visited by an Angel out doing some chores for God. The Saint requested permission to come along on the Angel's rounds. The Angel refused, saying that even one so saintly could not understand the mystery of how God works in Truth. The Saint vowed silence if permitted to come a long. So they set out together.

Coming to a large river, a boatman seeing they were holy men carried them down the river free of charge. In the midst of the journey, the Angel started tearing planks from the side of the boat, throwing them into the river. The Saint tried to stop him saying that the Angel was being cruel to the boatman who showed them kindness.

The Angel said, "You have broken your vow of silence and will have to depart." The Saint begged one more chance and it was given. Coming to their destination, the Angel slew an eleven year old boy, who was playing on the shore. The Saint became very disturbed and spoke again. The Angel granted him one last chance to accompany him, silently. When they came to a village and tried to beg some food, they were stoned, cursed and driven from the village.

An old broken down stone wall had once protected the village. The Angel told the

Saint that they would spend three days carrying stones and repairing the wall, At this point, the Saint spoke up again, and requested he be permitted to leave. The Angel then told him the reason for each action.

"A pirate was on the river, stealing all new and fit boats. I saved the boatman his boat by altering it a little to make it look unfit. The boy's parents were very God conscious people and the boy was fated to a life of crime and destruction. So, I saved the parents many years of grief. Buried under the wall was an inheritance, left to his children by a very pious man of the village. With the wall in disrepair, the unkind villagers would soon have discovered and stolen it."

The Saint conceded that it was never possible for a human being to understand the workings of God.

Bliss only comes when there is no doubt at all, but duality always exists. You cannot do away with it. But soon, when you are remembering God, it does not matter.

Today the mind has become the new golden calf So many are teaching how to control the mind, to meditate. So many are worshiping the mind rather than the Spirit. As I have said many times, it is important to care for the mind and body, but understand their natures. The nature of the mind is restless, no matter how you meditate, the result you get is never permanent. The body itself is not permanent, any sickness or any healing is also of a temporary nature.

Some say that all their hopes and aspirations in life have ended. Dadaji says that this thought also is not in a person's hands. There is a story in India of the blind Bharat Muni, who having done all sorts of penances, ready to leave the body, had to undergo in his old age all sorts of bewilderment's  He became infatuated with an abandoned infant deer. In a moment, all his acquired merit of austerity and non-attachment vanished.

Nobody knows how their destiny will work until the end of their life. So try to live everyday in such a way that at the end you will have the consolation that you have successfully used all the days and years. That you have used the gift of the

body, mind, and life God has bestowed upon you.

Numerous thoughts, problems, fears, anxieties, and worries, are all around, all the time to dislodge us from that goal of being with God. Three-fourths of our life seems to be spent with these worries. So Mahanam is the safety shield which not

only leads us to the primary goal, but is the goal itself. Nectar does the job of nectar, poison does the job of poison. So depend upon the nectar of God Almighty,

especially when it has been your good fortune to have once tasted that nectar.

People have the habit to criticize and gossip. Do not bother with this. Do not indulge your mind. If you do, your mind will become more restless and confused.

Patience and Name are the only solution.

FIND GOD'S NAME WITHIN, AND REPEAT IT CONSTANTLY.

Do not console yourself by the suffering of others. Saying my fate could have been worse, look at those people. Truth knows no discrimination. We all get what we deserve, not what we think we deserve. What we do with it, is what counts. People take credit for their successes and usually blame others for their failures.

The political leader of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, was a great success and was loved by the people. She was carried on this wave and then it crashed. The people

left her, she was defeated and brought to trial. At no time did she blame others.

After a period of some years, she was vindicated, re-elected, and once again loved by the people. Her philosophy is of the Bhagavad Gita. Do not be so elated with your success or so depressed by your defeats. It is all God's Will.

The grieving woman, who had come to see Dadaji, had stopped crying. She went to Him, He embraced her in His loving, playful way. For the first time that evening, she smiled.

WEEP NOT FOR THE DEAD BUT CONSIDER THE LIVING.