Is it a cosmic joke that most of us are born with awareness and die in unconsciousness?

Beloved Osho, is it a cosmic joke that most of us are born with awareness and die in unconsciousness?

So I slept in the house, because my sleep is almost no sleep. I am just resting with my eyes closed. So I remained looking in the dark, again and again, if any noise was there. And then I found out; the girl stood up, went inside, took out one of the saris of her mother and burned it, went back to her bed and to sleep. In the morning I asked the girl if she had had a dream of something burning. She said, "No." And she was absolutely innocent. But these are the times when girls and boys become sexually mature, when they are in a very critical situation. Their energy is going through such a change, that many haunted places are nothing but the results of some girl or some boy who is getting sexually mature, and his energy is going through such a deep transformation that…

A friend has asked, Osho, one can die with awareness, but how can one be born with awareness?

Most fasters spend twenty-four hours repeating, “I am hungry; I have not eaten,” with their minds absorbed in planning tomorrow’s menu. Then the fast is wasted; it is merely a hunger-strike. That is the difference: a hunger-strike means not eating; upavasa means “dwelling nearer and nearer.” Nearer to whom? To oneself. Away from the body, closer to the self. Even the word upavasa carries no implication of starving; it means nearer-dwelling. Thus one could be in upavasa even while eating—if one knows the eating is at a distance and “I am elsewhere.” And one could not be in upavasa even while not eating—if one keeps thinking, “I am hungry; I’m dying of hunger.” Upavasa is a psychological knowing of one’s separateness from hunger. Other sufferings too can be invited voluntarily. A man can even lie on thorns, simply to see that the thorns do not pierce me; they pierce elsewhere,…

One friend has asked: one can die fully conscious, but how can one be in full consciousness at birth?

Remember, the darker the night, the brighter the stars. The flash of lightning stands out like a silver strand, the darker the clouds are. Similarly, when, in its full form, death surrounds us from all sides, at that moment the very center of life manifests in all its glory -- never before that. Death surrounds us like darkness, and in the middle, that very center of life -- call it atman, the soul, shines in its full splendor; the surrounding darkness makes it luminous. But at that moment we become unconscious. At the very moment of death, which could otherwise become the moment to know our being, we become unconscious. Hence one will have to make preparations towards raising one's consciousness. Meditation is that preparation. Meditation is an experiment in how one attains to a gradual, voluntary death. It is an experiment in how one moves within and then leaves…

Beloved Osho, it is stated that man becomes unconscious at the time of death. Why is this so? Is it due to the terror of death or the process of death?

Ananda said, "But you are a little late. We have given our permission that the master can disappear into the whole, and he has already entered the first stage. So please forgive us, it is not our fault. Forty-two years you have postponed; now wait a few thousand years more. When another Buddha appears, another enlightened man, then don't be so foolish." But Buddha opened his eyes. He said, "Ananda, this will be a condemnation for me -- that a man had come thirsty, and I was still alive and I could not quench his thirst. I can delay death a little bit, but his question has to be answered; otherwise the poor fellow will feel guilty his whole life." A conscious man dies in a totally conscious way, step by step. And if he wants to return before he has taken the fourth step, he can come back. His…

Hence, you don’t even know that you were ever born. Even your birth is news others gave you. If no one told you that you were born, you would have no memory of it. You were born—that much is certain. Whether you died before or not, who knows? But that you are now born is sure—and yet you have no memory of it. Your parents and others said so; you heard it from them. The news of your birth is hearsay for you. You have no proof. There is no memory in your consciousness. Why? You were born—what a tremendous event! And yet you know nothing of it. Notice: one who does not know his own birth will find it very difficult to remain aware at death. The two are linked. Death has happened many times, but you died unconscious. Leave death aside. Every day you sleep. Sleep happens daily.