Page 41 - All India Magazine Dec-2024

selves, people say they are “dead.” They don’t waste any time de-
claring them dead! But they are conscious. They are conscious.
Imagine someone who can no longer speak or move — according
to human laws, he is “dead.” He is dead but he is conscious. He is
conscious, so he sees the people around him: some of them are
weeping, some of them are... if he’s a bit clairvoyant, he also sees
that some of them are rejoicing. And then he sees himself put into
a box, sees the lid nailed down, shutting him in: “Ah, now it’s all
over, they’re going to cover me with earth!” Or he’s taken over
there [to the cremation ground], and then it’s fire in the mouth —
fully conscious.
I have lived this in recent days. I have seen it. Last night or the
night before, I spent at least two hours in a world — the subtle
physical world — where the living mingle with the dead with no
sense of difference, it makes absolutely no difference there. For
instance, when Mridu was in her body I used to see her at night
maybe once a year (maybe not even that much). For years she was
utterly nonexistent in my consciousness... but since she left her
body, I see her almost every night! There she is, just as she was,
you know (rotund gesture), but no longer troubled, that’s all. No
longer troubled. And there were both living and... what we call
the “living” and the “dead”— they were both there together, eat-
ing together, moving around together, having fun together; and
all in a lovely, tranquil light — pleasant, very pleasant. “There!” I
thought, “and humans have drawn a sharp line, saying, ‘Now he’s
dead!’” Dead! And what really takes the cake is the way they treat
the body like an unconscious object, and it’s still conscious!
It’s treated like an object: “Now then! Let’s get rid of this just
as quickly as we can: it’s a nuisance and it gets in the way.” And
even those who feel the most sorrow don’t want to see it; it’s too
painful for them.
The Mother, Conversation with a Disciple, October 12, 1962

All India Magazine, December 2024 41