808

The question is from Mantra. Few things. First: Mantra must be very much afraid of death– that's why the interest in resurrection. It has nothing to do with Jesus and his resurrection, it has something to do with your deep fear of death.

The interest in the miracles of Jesus, especially his healings and his resurrection...

Mantra must be very much afraid of death and illness. This interest arises because of that fear, otherwise who bothers? If you are not afraid of death, who bothers about resurrection? It is fear.

In fact, if it is proved absolutely that there had been no resurrection in Jesus' life, ninety-nine percent of Christians will drop being Christian, because then what is the point? They have been hanging around this person with the idea that he knows the secret of resurrecting himself, somehow he will impart his secrets and keys to them. Or maybe, if he does not show the art, at least he can do the miracles for them; he can save them. It is fear of death.

If it is proved absolutely that Jesus never did any healing miracles, then you will not find many Christians in the world; they will disappear. They are not interested in Jesus at all. Their whole interest is in how to protect themselves from illness, and finally, from death.

Rather than thinking of resurrection and healing miracles, go deep inside yourself and look into your fear of death. There is no resurrection, but if you go deep into your fear of death, it disappears. And with the fear of death, death disappears. Then you know you are eternal life. There is no resurrection. Resurrection is possible only if first you die! You never die. Nobody has ever died. Death is a myth!

The word myth comes from a Sanskrit root mithya. Mythya means false. Death is a falsity. Death has never happened– never is going to happen. It cannot happen in the very case. Life is eternal, only forms change. You die here, your flame disappears in this body and it becomes embodied in some other body, you are born in some other womb. And so on and so forth. And even when there is no more birth, you disappear into God.

But life lives. And when I am saying life lives, I don't mean Mantra lives, no. Mantra is a form. You are a form. The form is not eternal. The form is going down the drain. Even while you are alive you will change your form a thousand and one times. If somebody brings a picture of you– of the first day when you were born– will you be able to recognise that this is your picture? One day that was your form. Now you are seventy years old, you cannot recognise it. But maybe the first day's picture can even have some resemblance.

But what about when you were in your mother's womb? If a picture could have been taken, the first day you entered the mother's womb, would you be able to recognise that small cell? It will not have your face, it will not have your nose, it will not have any visible mark; it will just be a small life cell. It was you. Then during those nine months your form goes on changing, changing, changing. And then your whole life the form goes on changing.

Form is a flux. You never die! Form dies every day. But the problem arises because you have become too identified with the form. You think 'I am the form'. You think 'I am this body'. Then the fear of death arises. You need not learn the art of resurrection. You have simply to learn that death does not exist; there is no need to resurrect because you cannot die in the first place!

Rather than being intrigued by Jesus' miracles, perform a miracle: go into yourself. That is the only miracle. Go into your fear of death, and go on deeper into it, and see where it is, what it is. Watch it. And don't rationalise, and don't bring theories borrowed from the outside to console yourself. Don't say that soul is eternal, no; you don't know yet. I am saying it is eternal, but that is not your knowledge. Don't make it your consolation. You have to go trembling, you have to go with fear, you have to descend the staircase of death. You have to go to the very end. You have to see the whole possibility of death– what it is. In that very seeing you will be surprised that you are not it. You are not the body, you are not even the mind. You are just pure life energy, you are a witness. In that witnessing is the real miracle.

You say: 'I am very interested in the miracles of Jesus, especially his healings and his resurrection.'

You are not interested in Jesus at all, if you are interested in his miracles of healing and resurrection. That is a wrong kind of interest. And because of that, Jesus' religion died very early. It really was a miscarriage. Buddha still lives far more penetratingly in human consciousness because he never did anything like miracles. So only the people who were really interested in inquiry came to him.

Jesus attracted wrong people; wrong people came around him, and then Christianity made its base on his miracles. And I don't think that he ever did any miracles. He did miracles which are far-penetrating, but they are totally different from what you have heard. Yes, he healed the eyes, but not the physical eyes; he healed the inner eyes. Yes, he made people listen who were deaf, but that has nothing to do with your physical deafness. All are deaf, and all are blind. And he touched people's eyes and their ears and opened them. And all are dead!– because you are identified with the body, which is death. You are identified with the form, which is death.

Yes, he helped many people to come out of death. That is the meaning of the story of Lazarus. He called forth Lazarus: Come out! On the ordinary plane it seems that he called him from his grave. On the higher plane it means that he called him from his body– the body is your grave. He made him aware that he is consciousness not the body. That is the real miracle!

But somehow the followers of Jesus got mixed up. That's why I say again and again he was not as fortunate as Buddha, because he didn't get the right kind of following– and much depends on followers. A single wrong follower and he can destroy, can change the whole story, can interpret the whole story in a wrong way.

When Buddha died, his disciples gathered together to write down whatsoever he had said. Now there were millions of stories because everybody was relating in his own way. How to decide? And all these people were eye-witnesses and very cultured people, sophisticated people. And they were saying different things, contradictory to each other. Then it was decided that only those few disciples who had become enlightened in Buddha's days should be listened to.

Even one of the most intimate followers, Ananda, was not allowed because he had not yet become enlightened. He was the most intimate disciple. He lived with Buddha for forty years, day in, day out, year in, year out. Not for a single day was he away from Buddha. For forty years he slept in Buddha's room. He took every care of Buddha. He should be relied upon. Whatsoever he says should be the most authentic, because he had listened to everything that Buddha said in those forty years after his enlightenment. Not a single word has he missed, and he was very sophisticated, cultured– had a beautiful memory, one of the most miraculous memories. He could repeat things word by word. But even he was not allowed.

He cried, he wept, he said: What are you doing? I was the most intimate. You people have lived for a few days with Buddha– somebody for a few months; I have lived for forty years. And not only during the day, but at night too. And we had many conversations which nobody has ever heard. I know much more than anybody else!'

And they said, 'That's true, but you are not enlightened yet. You can be dangerous. Your unenlightened mind can pollute the whole message. You may put something into it, you may delete something from it, and that will be unconscious! Not that you will be doing it; it will happen automatically because of your unconsciousness. And because of your unconsciousness you may emphasise something that looks more important. You may forget something or may not emphasise something which was more important or would have been more important if you were enlightened. The emphasis will be different. You will underline different things than an enlightened person would. You cannot be allowed.'

Five hundred disciples who had become enlightened in Buddha's days– whose enlightenment was declared by Buddha himself– only they were allowed. Buddhist scriptures are the most authentic. And Ananda was sitting outside the door crying.

After twenty-four hours he was allowed. What happened? In those twenty-four hours for the first time, the last barrier that had remained in him broke. That was a barrier that had persisted for forty-two years. He was a cousin-brother to Buddha, and an elder cousin-brother. When he had come to be initiated by Buddha– he was elder, and in India traditionally the elder brother can command the younger brother– he said to Buddha 'Before I am initiated by you, let me command you three things. I am your elder brother. Once I am initiated, I will be a disciple, then whatsoever you say I will have to follow. But I am not yet your disciple, I am your elder brother. Promise me these three things, then initiate me.' Buddha said 'What are those three things?'

'First' he said 'I will live with you twenty-four hours a day for ever. You will not be able to say "Ananda, you go somewhere, or you do something." I will follow you like a shadow. Promise?' And Buddha promised. Of course when an elder brother asks such a thing, how can he deny him? He said 'Okay. What is your second?'

And he said 'Even in the middle of night, if I bring somebody inside, you will have to give an appointment– you cannot say no to me. I will have the sole right. Anybody, if I feel that he needs you, and needs you immediately... I will have the sole right. I will decide it.' Buddha said 'Okay. And what is your third?'

And he said 'My third is that whatsoever I ask you will have to answer. You cannot postpone, you cannot say "Later on", or "After some days". You will have to answer it immediately.' Buddha promised these three things.

Ananda became his disciple, but that ego remained: 'I am the elder brother, I am the most close, I am the only one who sleeps in the Buddha's room, I am the only one who can ask any question and Buddha has to answer. That ego remained. Otherwise he became surrendered, but that ego remained.

When the conference of the monks did not allow him in, it was so painful to him, it was so wounding... it hurt, and he cried and wept outside. And then he became aware that because of this small ego, subtle ego... many more came to Buddha and became enlightened and I didn't become. In that awareness that ego melted. And you will be surprised that when Ananda became enlightened, the whole conference inside– five hundred monks– immediately felt it. They said 'Open the door. Ananda is no more the same person. Bring him in.'

Jesus was not so fortunate. His disciples were ordinary in a sense. Not a single one was enlightened, so whatsoever they wrote was from the unenlightened standpoint. So the real meanings got lost and unreal meanings got imposed. The miracle of giving eyes to a spiritually blind man became a miracle of giving eyes to a blind man. Healing a person from the illness called 'this world' became an ordinary healing of a person from tuberculosis or something like that. Making a person really alive for the first time– and he was dead up to now– became an ordinary miracle of giving life to a dead man.

Don't be interested wrongly. Your interest is wrong.

Second:
'He has also said that others could do the same. Is this possible? If so, how? And is it necessary for the physical body to die before one learns how to manifest and de-manifest at will?'

Will is the source of ego. Let it be understood deeply. All is possible if the will is dissolved into God's will. All is possible– with no conditions. But if you want to do it at will, then you will become more and more egoistic. And that's what happens. People who can do a few things, which are not of any significance, become very egoistic because they can do them. All these so-called siddhis and miraculous powers just enhance your ego and are against spiritual growth. Beware of it.

These things can be done! Mind has great powers, but to use the powers of the mind is to prevent yourself from going higher than the mind. You will get stuck there. A few people are stuck in the world– in the world also there are many powers. A politician has great power, a man who has money has great power. A few people are lost in worldly powers– those powers belong to the body level. Then a few people are lost in mental powers. Then you can have clairaudience, telepathy, things like that– mind reading. But you will be lost, you will never move beyond that.

Get out of the world, and get out of the mind too. And whenever you develop something, it becomes difficult to drop it. Yes! When you become spiritual, all powers become available to you: of the body, of the mind. But then who uses them? It is so stupid then to use them. It is so meaningless, it is so childish.

These powers can be developed, these mind powers. And two are the ways: either you develop imagination or you develop will, then you can develop these powers. These are the two ways– both are dangerous. If you develop the power of imagination, it is a double edged sword.

For example, that's what has happened to Mantra. She says she was not ill for two years, and she was powerful enough. Then what happened? She came here, and she heard these things. Imagination can work both ways: it can make you healthy, it can make you ill. If your imagination gets the idea 'I am healthy', then you will feel healthy. If the imagination gets the idea that you are ill, you will become ill.

Beware of imagination, it is dangerous because it carries the opposite in it. Or, there is some possibility to develop will– that is developing your ego. That is far more dangerous than imagination, because the more the ego becomes crystallised, the less is the possibility to go beyond. You will be confined.

Imagination is like this...

The team that wins the Football League Cup usually has quite a celebration afterwards. The morning after such a night before, one member of the winning team woke to find himself in a hospital bed, heavily bandaged, with one of his team-mates sitting beside him.
'What happened?' he asked groggily.
'Well, it was at the reception last night– don't you remember?' said his mate. 'After your seventeenth or eighteenth pint, you went over to the window and said you were going to fly round the hotel and land on the roof.'
'Why on earth didn't you try and stop me?' said the man in the bed.
'Last night I thought you could do it!' replied his friend.

He must have taken at least sixteen pints himself. Imagination can create many things. And you can live in imagination, and in your imagination you will feel that it is happening. And it happens too! If there is no doubt inside you, imagination is a great force. It can create a dream almost as real as possible. That's what is happening to LSD people.

Karl Marx has said 'Religion is the opiate of the people.' Timothy Leary says 'Opium is the religion of the people.' And I say to you: Religion is religion, opium is opium! Neither religion is opium nor opium is religion.

That's what you are enjoying when you are on an acid trip. Then you are full of imagination– there is no bondage to your imagination. Then you live in a totally separate reality, the reality that (Carlos) Castaneda talks about; it is out of drugs. And in the East people have done it long. In the Vedas they talk about soma– it was their LSD. And then down the ages in the East, people have tried all kinds of things– marijuana, opium and others, mushrooms. Now in the West, the idea is catching hold of people's imagination.

Beware of imagination. Imagination cannot help, it can only give you beautiful dreams; but they are dreams. When they are there they look very real. When they are gone you are lost into darkness. You can create these imaginations without drugs too. Through certain breathing exercises, you can create them, because breathing can change your inner chemistry. Through certain yoga exercises you can change your inner chemistry. Through fasting you can change your chemistry. But by changing your chemistry you are not changing your soul. Or you can create great friction. Through friction, ego is created, will is created. You can start fighting with something.

For example, a man decides that he will not sleep for one year. Now there is going to be great friction. Every night he will have to fight hard. After a few nights, even in the day it will be difficult for him– a continuous fight will be there. And if he goes on fighting, goes on fighting, it is a friction, a struggle. And if he goes on keeping himself alert, a moment comes when the body surrenders. Then he can be awake and sleep will not come any more.

With this he will become very very willful. Now he can do many things. He can say to somebody 'You will die tomorrow!' And just his assertion will have so much will, it will go like a dagger and will kill the man. Or, he can be helpful also. Somebody is ill, and he can say 'You are cured!' And when he is saying 'You are cured' he is total; there is no doubt in him. Because there is no doubt in him, he creates a pulsation in the other person of trust, of no doubt that he will be cured.

This man can be helpful, can be dangerous– to others. But to himself he is always dangerous. To others it is possible, helpful or dangerous. But to himself he is always dangerous, because now he is caught in a will. The will has become very strong– now he cannot get out of it, now he cannot surrender it. And now there is much investment in it too. He has worked for it for so long, how can he surrender it?

And there is always a possibility when you have power to misuse it. Power corrupts, not only political power, but the so-called psychic power also corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

So this is my suggestion to you: Rather than thinking of resurrection, powers, miracles, will– think, meditate more about what this life is. Go into it, otherwise you will be moving in a wrong direction. You will be gathering junk and you will be throwing away real diamonds.

Meditate on this small anecdote:

A young American entered a railway compartment on a British Rail train, to discover that all the seats were occupied, including one on which was seated a small Pekinese dog.
To its owner, a middle-aged lady wearing a large flowered hat, he said politely 'Excuse me, Ma'am, but may I sit down?'
She said nothing, but merely sniffed and turned over the pages of her Illustrated London News.
Again he said 'Excuse me, Ma'am, but may I have this seat please?'
And again she ignored him.
For a third time the young American said 'Ma'am, would you please remove your dog so that I may sit down?'
And for the third time the snooty matron utterly ignored him, so he opened a window, picked up the dog, hurled it out and then sat down on the empty seat.
There was stunned silence, and then an Englishman sitting opposite said 'You know, you Yanks are the strangest people. You drive on the wrong side of the road, you eat with your fork in the wrong hand, and now you have just thrown the wrong bitch out of the window.'

Enough for today.