When people almost die, they momentarily step out of the body and see a bright light that is really their own true self—and meditation can show this without dying.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, before discussing the process of entering a conscious death, I would like to ask: what is the difference between stupor and awakening? What do we call the state of unconsciousness? In other words, in wakefulness and in unconsciousness, what is the state of the jivatma’s consciousness?
Religion is a search for attention; so, in their own way, are gambling, battle, hunting. The man who enters the forest to hunt a lion is also seeking attention; so is the yogi in a cave striving at the ajna chakra. The search may be noble or ignoble, desirable or undesirable, successful or futile—but the underlying hunger is one. Attention means: the knowing power within me becomes fully manifest—no part left potential or dormant. Whatever capacity to know I carry turns from potential into actual. In the moment a person is fully awake, in that very moment he fully is. Awakening and being happen together. Think of a seed: the tree is hidden in the seed, but only potentially. The seed can die without becoming a tree; the tree is not a necessity, only a possibility. When the tree manifests, it is the seed in its expressed form. Sleep is…Read the full discourse →
A friend has asked, Osho, in the awesome, terrible cosmic form of Krishna, Arjuna sees the gods trembling and others moving toward death. But did he not see himself in that terrible form? Did he not see himself going into the jaws of death? And if he did see himself, why was it not mentioned? And if he did not, why?
Fasting is an experiment of the same kind as the experiment with sleep. Let the body feel hunger and remain inwardly without hunger—then the two functions will separate. The day it is clear to you: the body is hungry and I stand within content, without hunger—that day you will know the difference. The body has slept and you are awake—you will know the difference. And when this difference is known, then when death comes—the body will die, you will not—and you will know that difference too. Begin with sleep. Slowly, slowly the inner differentiation becomes clear; light grows within. The light is with us, but we use it outside; we never turn it within. So we see the whole world and miss ourselves. Therefore it did not appear to Arjuna—because one’s own death is never seen; only another’s is seen. Therefore do not rely much on what appears concerning others;…Read the full discourse →
Through my own recent encounter with death, I came across many stories of people from diverse cultures and of different religious backgrounds, who temporarily left their bodies and appeared to observers to be dead. They reported seeing a "being of light," which was totally loving and compassionate. Could this "being of light" be the basis on which the concept of god has been created?
This statement made such a deep penetration into Daiten, he was greatly enlightened. An authentic seeker, sincere seeker, who does not hide himself behind false knowledge, borrowed knowledge, who does not pretend that he knows without knowing, if he accepts "I don't know" -- he is already very close to the truth. He has accepted his innocence now there is no barrier. No God, no scripture, no knowledge -- he is just as close as one can be to no-mind. A little push by the master, a little statement, and he will be drowned into existence. That drowning into existence is enlightenment. Disappearing into existence is enlightenment. I have always loved one story from China .... The emperor of China was a great painter. At his seventy-fifth birthday, he was feeling old, and perhaps the day was not far away when he would have to leave the body. So he…Read the full discourse →
Osho, is there something like a subtle body within the body, or not?
There is only one way: while you are alive, the body and the body’s consciousness can separate. At the time of death it happens anyway. But then we have no means left to know it. The only means we have is that, while living, a person can experience being outside the body. This experience often happens accidentally—and to many people. It is a fairly common experience; it is not very unusual. Many people have it happen accidentally—during some grave illness, sometimes when a severe injury occurs...Read the full discourse →
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…Read the full discourse →