“He who does not give up his life does not reach his Beloved God.”
… Now what is the meaning of this “life giving”? Does it mean jumping out of running car or committing suicide with self-inflicted violence and torture to the body? No. Not at all. “Give up life” means to renounce Maya’s delusion. To renounce false impressions – of the pleasures of this material world, normally experienced and enjoyed though this gross body and mind. Thus “to give up life” means to “die” in the real sense pf the world, that is, to surrender to a Sadguru, to fall at His feet and get hold pf them so firmly as never to leave him.
Just like these chappals (footwear) on your feet that go wherever the feet go – at one moment, say, into a King’s palace, and at another, through the nark*(excrement): whatever the circumstances, the chappal’s duty is to go where the feet go. Not only this, but the chappals should stick to the feet so strongly as eventually to become one with them. The chappals should actually merge with the feet, forsaking their present name and existence as mere chappals or footwear. In the same way, one should stick to the Guru by giving up all material pleasures, ease, rest, and so forth, and by keeping aloof from and avoiding the inducements and allurements of Maya – and that too, in spite of getting “kicks” from the Guru even while sticking to him. Mind you, to “surrender” and “stick to” a Guru means no merely to show off and pretend to wisdom by taking his “sacred darshan” twenty-four times a day! Nay, not that, but rather, “sticking to the Guru” means strictly obeying his orders and getting his every word carried out.
To live without any thought of “self”, to live selflessly,
means to die a living death. The death and, destruction of
all desires, thoughts, and the mind itself- this is what is
meant by “giving up your life”
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– “Meher Baba’s Tiffin lectures”#, p25
20-May-1926; Meherabad
* Nark literally means hell
#Meher Baba’s Tiffin Lectures, a collection of fifty-two discourses, were given by Meher Baba from 1926–27. Edited by Meherwan Jessawala and Dr Ward Parks, it was published in 2017.