Mahaparinirvana Day : September 8
September 08th, 1979 is the day when Osho’s father, Swami Devateerth Bharti lovingly called Dadda ji, got enlightened in the early morning hours and left his body on the same day in the evening. Osho guided us to Celebrate 8th September every year as the “Mahaparinirvana Day”, a day dedicated to all His Sannyasins, Past, Present and Future, who have gone to the other shore.
Osho explains the meaning of the word MAHAPARINIRVANA. Osho says, “One day, one golden day, you will disappear and only the buddha will remain in place of you. That will be the greatest height of your blossoming, the greatest golden moment of your thousands of lives. Beyond that is only the cosmos. First, become the buddha. This is called nirvana. Then take a jump into the cosmos, and disappear into the blue sky. This is called Mahaparinirvana — the great enlightenment. The first is called enlightenment, the second is called the great enlightenment. Then you are not, even the buddha is not. Only the existence is, with all its glory, with all its majesty, with all its flowers blossoming, its beauty, its truth, its divineness spread all over the cosmos. Then you will become one with the whole, not part of the whole. To become one with the whole is the only holiness.”
When asked to say something about his father’s death the subsequent day, Osho says, “It was not a death at all. Or it was total death. And both mean the same thing. I was hoping that he would die in this way. He died a death that everybody should be ambitious for: he died in samadhi, he died utterly detached from the body and the mind… … He left the world in utter silence, in joy, in peace. He left the world like a lotus flower – it was worth celebrating. And these are the occasions for you to learn how to live and how to die. Each death should be a celebration, but it can be a celebration only if it leads you to higher planes of existence.”
Osho explains what He means by the term TOTAL DEATH. He says, “My effort here is to help you all to live like Buddhas and die like Buddhas. The death of a Buddha is both! It is not a death, because life is eternal. Life does not begin with birth and does not end with death. Millions of times you have been born and died; they are all small episodes in the eternal pilgrimage. But because you are unconscious you cannot see that which is beyond birth and death. As you become more conscious, you can see your original face. He saw his original face yesterday. He heard the one hand clapping; he heard the soundless sound. Hence it is not a death: it is attaining life eternal. On the other hand; it can be called a total death – total death in the sense that he will not be coming any more.”