BELOVED OSHO,
A FRIEND WROTE TO ME THAT TWO DAYS AFTER HER FATHER DIED, SITTING BY THE CORPSE SHE FELT AN INCREDIBLE RISE OF ENERGY IN HER. WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND A DEAD PERSON, AND HOW SHOULD WE LOOK AFTER THE BODY OF A PERSON WHO HAS DIED?
The moment a person dies he releases all his energy. If you are receptive, you will feel it. If you are available, open, you will feel your energy level rising up. It depends on many things — what kind of man has died, what kind of energy he used to have. If he was a man of anger, violence, then it is better not to be close to him because all his repressed anger, all his repressed violence will be released and you can unnecessarily suffer from all that energy entering you.
And it is very natural because when somebody is dying or dead, you automatically become silent by their side — nobody makes any noise, nobody talks. Death is such a mysterious phenomenon that everybody is in shock.
So the first thing to be aware of is, what kind of person is dying. If the person has been a loving person, compassionate, kind, always helpful, always sharing whatever he had, then to be close to him and sit silently will be very helpful to you. When he is leaving, these energies will be radiated all around him.
But if he was sexually repressed, a rapist, or some kind of criminal, it is better not be close to him because whatever he has been collecting in his life is going to be released. He is moving into a new house, so all his old furniture is going to be left in the old house. He cannot carry all that furniture with him; it will be diffused around him.
Because of this fact, in India the three great religions — Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism — have decided that the dead person’s body should be burned as quickly as possible, so that it does not radiate unnecessary, harmful things to people — and mostly people are repressing ugly things. So in India, only the saints are not burned; that’s the exception. Their bodies are kept in samadhis — in a certain kind of grave, so that their bodies can go on radiating for years, sometimes for hundreds of years. But ordinary persons’ bodies are immediately burned — as quickly as possible.
Other religions of the world have decided not to burn bodies but to put them in a grave. It is dangerous. It means you are putting away accumulated anger, hatred, sexuality, murder — all kinds of energies which will be radiating from their graves — and you can catch them, they are infectious.
In the East whenever a man who has attained to himself dies, he announces beforehand when he is going to die so that all his disciples can come to share his energy — his last gift. He wants to die amongst his own people, his own disciples who can understand him and be receptive to him. And his whole life’s treasure of beautiful feelings he showers on them.
As far as the man who is dying or dead is concerned, one has to be very watchful.
Bennett remembers in his autobiography that after the second world war he was so tired — he had been in the war fighting — that he felt close to dying. But he wanted to see George Gurdjieff, his master, for the last time — at least before he dies. So he went to see him in Paris. He went in, and Gurdjieff said, “What has happened to you, Bennett? You are looking so pale, as if you are going to die. You have come at the right time. Just come close to me.” He took hold of his hands, stared in his eyes, and within two minutes Bennett started feeling a tremendous rush of energy. But that was only one side of it. At the same time he saw Gurdjieff becoming pale, and he became afraid of what he was doing. He stopped him, saying, “Stop. I am perfectly okay.”
Gurdjieff said, “Don’t be worried about me.” He somehow managed to walk to the bathroom, and closed the door; after ten minutes he came out. He was perfectly okay.
Bennett remembers, “I had never thought that energy could be transferred in such a simple way.”
But it is being transferred.
It was so direct, that’s why he became aware of it. In other ways, every master is giving his energy to his people — every moment he looks into your eyes — every moment he comes close to you. What else he can give to you? He has achieved whatever one can achieve in life. Now his energy is just to share.
But if somebody is dying to whom you are closely related — your father, your mother, your wife, your husband, your child, your friend… and you would like to do something to take part in it — the person is dying, you are alive — you can sit by the side of the person, you can put your hand on his heart or hold his hands and just be silent, and just be peaceful. And your peace and your silence will be transferred, transmitted; and if you can help the person to die peacefully, silently, you have done a beautiful act, a virtuous act. You may feel afterwards a little weak, tired, exhausted; but that is nothing — just a little rest and you will be perfectly okay.
So from your side you can help the dying person to move on to a better plane of life, but for that you have to be silent and you have to be peaceful. Then you are on a higher plane and energy can flow.
Energy flows in the same way water flows — downwards. It cannot flow upwards.
So remember it, that both ways energy can be exchanged. If the person is certainly of an evil character, it is better to avoid him. You will not be able to help him; on the contrary, he may help you — give you some of his devilry, sow some seeds in your heart, in your being. It is better to avoid him. But if the person is a good person, has not done any harm to anybody… the basic thing is that if you love the person, you have a feeling for the person, then you can pour your energy into him. This is the time — and the last time; you won’t have another opportunity to give him a gift.
And there cannot be a better gift than this, because this gift can change his whole future journey. If he dies peacefully and silently, he will be born on a higher plane.
But you have to be very careful. Don’t try sitting in meditation and helping Adolf Hitler — don’t try. It is beyond you. You cannot give energy to him; he will give energy to you — and all the more easily if you are silent and peaceful.
One has to be very careful with the dying person, because much can happen between the two of you. His future life can be affected, your future life can be affected — unless you are so much aware that nothing can affect you. Then there is no problem, then you can sit in full awareness even by the side of Adolf Hitler, he will not be in any way capable of harming you. Perhaps you may be able to help him a little bit.