Death is not an ‘ending’

Insights by Shastro

I am saying this because many people sent me messages – in relation with Chinmaya’s departure – saying “I am sorry for your loss.”

Of course I know they mean well, they come from a space of caring, but we should start to reconsider even the words we use. It would be fair.

Usually what I feel like replying is, “Nothing is lost, it is only transformed.” Because that has been my experience every time someone close to me has passed.

The strongest and most obvious of these experiences was Osho leaving his body, where suddenly I was experiencing a perception of him that was sooo much more intimate, so present, so uplifting… taking me into experiencing something that is hard to describe because it transcends completely the logical mind… something of the beyond, of the formless dimension of spirit. So when people tell me, “You are so lucky you were with Osho when he was in his body,” I tell them that he actually became much more available when he left his body. So – again – they are not missing anything; in a way he is here more than before, just in a different and more subtle way that only the heart can perceive.

Every time a dear one passes we have that precious opportunity to put a foot through the door into the beyond… BUT the secret key to that door is a deep tuning-in, an entering of the depth of our heart, of our being… allowing ourselves to feel anything that the departure is provoking in us. For me, among other things, there are tears – but again not to be misunderstood when they come. For me they are never tears of sadness… Again words fail to describe what they are… but it’s like they are helping me to make space for something to be perceived, they are helping me to empty my mind and my heart so that I can perceive more, so that I can be with what it is more fully. They are helping my heart to stay more open and to FEEL.

Of course grief can be there and sadness, and that is okay too, it’s natural to feel the emptiness that that person left – but again don’t be afraid to FEEL that emptiness, because in that way we come to a higher level of perception of what death is. And we should help ourselves remember that.

Death – it’s not always a loss, and tears are not always expressing sadness.

In the end death is an opportunity to experience more deeply our formless True Nature.

Love to all!

P.S. In the photo: Chinmaya and myself in Hawaii, maybe 25 years ago? …God knows what we were doing, it looks like we were surveying a piece of land for some project of transformation… We just loved collaborating with nature to create more beauty!

This text was first published as a post on Facebook, edited and published on Osho News with permission