Mohanji
At one point, Gurudeva slowed down and started showing signs of Detachment from everyone, as if preparing to leave his body. He did not leave the shade of a banyan a tree for a week, and was staring at the sky all day. He lay there without eating, drinking, or sleeping. All of us concluded that he would soon be leaving his body, and that was a painful thought for us. Our anxiety grew day by day.
One day, Gurudeva spoke: “You fools! Why are you so anxious, upset and crying? You are upset because I may leave this ‘dead’ body. I am ashamed that you have understood nothing by walking with me all these years. Death is inevitable for everyone, but not the soul. The Soul Never Dies. I will never die because I was never born. All that is born will die. This is the truth and there is no tragedy in it. When my work is over with this body, I will leave it. I am not the body and nobody can hold me back. You will also leave your respective bodies just like I will, someday. Crying over a dead body is the silliest and stupidest thing one can ever do. When I die, do not put my body in a tomb. Burn it and give the ash to the rivers that bathed it and nurtured it all these years. There should be no visible trace of Atmananda. I will come back again in another body to fulfil every wish of everyone who connects with me. When I come back, I will come back only FOR THE SAKE OF DHARMA and will have no boundaries or barriers. It will have nothing to do with this body that people call Atmananda.” Gurudeva made this very clear and started his wandering pattern again when he felt better. We understood that he had wanted to give us an important lesson in life.
