Ans -Well, it is a very good question. The reality is that all of the Saints have said such things, keeping that feeling in front of Them. And I have also said these things keeping the same feeling which the earlier Saints had in front of Them. Dear Children, I have not come here to tell you anything new.

You know that Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji said when we are a child gradually that childhood goes away, and when we become adolescents then, at that time, if for a moment we think that we should get our childhood back – we can only think about that. But once we have lost our childhood it doesn't come back to us. In the same way when we get to old age, when we have become older, then if we think that we should become young again, become adolescents once again, it is not possible, because once you have lost that state then you do not get it back.

Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji has said, "Childhood, adolescence, and old age – do not understand any of these things as the reality. Guru Nanak says that you should understand and accept the reality." Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji said, "Rama was the incarnate of Brahma and even He did not live in this world forever. Ravana, who had progressed very much in science – and also it is said that he had a very big family – even he did not live here forever."

The life in this world is like a dream. When you are having the dream everything seems to be very real, but when you open your eyes, when you get up from your sleep, then nothing is real. It was only a dream. In the same way, life in this world is not real. It is just like a dream of the night. "Rama went; Ravana who had a very big family went. Nanak says, " No one is permanent in this world. The life in this world is like a dream."

Kabir Sahib said, "When the leaf gets cut off from the branch of the tree, the wind blows it away." That particular leaf doesn't come back and get attached to the same branch. Some people were carrying a coffin – somebody had died so they were taking him to the cremation ground – so looking at them Guru Nanak Sahib, in order to awaken the souls, said, "Awake, awake, awake, O Traveler. See that the other traveler is going!"

Yaksha asked Yudhistra, "What is the most surprising thing in this world?" He replied, "The most surprising thing in this world is that we see with our own eyes these people leaving this world, and even we ourselves give them our shoulder and take them to the graveyard or to the cremation ground, but still we believe that death is only for those who have died and it is not going to come to us." Sufi Saint Farid Sahib Said, "I used to believe that I am the only one who was affected by this pain of birth and death . But I did the Simran given to me by the master and with his grace I got above the nine openings of the body. I went to the Eye centre and furthermore I went into Par Brahm and over there also I meditated a lot. And when I went in the Banwar Gupha, after reaching there I saw that the entire Creation which the Lord Almighty has created is suffering from this sickness or this disease of birth and death. If there is anyone who is saved from this, it is God Almighty Himself. Otherwise everyone has this pain of birth and death."

Farid Sahib says, "I thought that only I had this pain. But the entire world is suffering from this pain. when I got to the higher planes and looked around, I saw that in every house the same fire was burning." He says that a crane was sitting on the bank of a river. He was catching frogs and fish, and he was playing with them. He would take his prey in his beak and he would throw it upward, and again he would catch it with his beak. He was playing like that when all of a sudden a hawk came there and attacked him. The crane did not know that the hawk was looking at him and that the hawk was going to come. It came without giving any warning – it came all of a sudden.

The crane was sitting on the bank of the river, but while he was playing, all of a sudden a hawk came and attacked him. When the hawk of God Almighty attacks us, then all the plays and all the fun which we are having are forgotten. Those who do not remain aware of that "hawk" which comes to everyone, those who forget this, they always find it very difficult when that hawk attacks them.

Dear Ones, everyone remembers the materials of the world. Who remembers Death? Even if we do not remember Death, still when the time comes, Death comes and shows us His face. The Lord of Death cannot be avoided by any temptations or by any power, or ruling, or anything like that, and He is very punctual about the time. At that fixed time He definitely comes to us.

The Lord of Death comes while the two lamps are still burning. He extinguishes both the lamps and He takes over the fort of the body.

The person who is about to die sees with his own eyes that the Lord of Death has come, because he can see Him coming. When He extinguishes both the lamps, when He closes both the eyes, and when He takes the soul out of the body, at that time nobody can see Him doing that. So the people who are sitting around us, our relatives, our friends cannot help us. How can they help us when they don't know what is happening with us? The Lord of Death is seen only by the person for whom the lord of death has come. The people sitting around him cannot do anything but weep and cry after he dies.

Dear Ones, the kings in India were very powerful; they were very strong. And I had the opportunity of witnessing the death of three kings with my own eyes. I am not saying this from hearsay. I have seen this with my own eyes. They had hundreds of guards around them, but no one could say from which direction the Lord of Death came and took those kings away. We ourselves took them to the cremation grounds and reduced them to a handful of ashes.

The state of Kapurthala used to be called the Paris of India . And when the king of Kapurthala died, I myself took him to the cremation ground. It was very beautiful, it had so many beautiful trees all around. And at that place we reduced him to a handful of ashes. I myself sang this bhajan written by Ravi Das, which says, "A day comes when a person comes into this world, and a day comes when he leaves this world. No one lives in this world forever. No one is permanent here."

A couple of years ago when we were coming back from Kullu Manali, on the way back I showed Gurmel all those places where I had been: the school and the palaces of the king where I was working with him. And I showed him the cremation ground and even the palace where the kings used to be. Now there is no one there – no one to even look after that place. And I even showed him the cremation ground where those kings where cremated.

Kabir Sahib says, "Kal is such a mighty one that even though you may have warriors standing by your side, but still He would take you out from among them, and they would just stand there repenting. All the salutes and homage which we offer to the person who has departed is only for showing off to the people, it is only for the name's sake. Because we do not know what the Lord of Death is doing with that soul.

Well my Master, my Beloved Gurudev, told me, "Look here. We have not come to live in this world forever. The time which has passed will not come back." Even in the bhajan you read: "the time which has passed does not come back. This is what Kirpal makes Ajaib understand." Dear Ones, only those who have not seen death are afraid of death. Those who have not seen death, if you even mention death in front of them, they get nervous, they get perturbed, and they say, "Don't talk about death in front of me."

Saints do not die; They return to Their home. Of course the body takes birth. But the Power which works within the body of the Saints is neither comes nor goes. Do you understand that Beloved Kirpal and Master Sawan are dead? They are still living. They lived in the past, and even thousands of years ago They lived, and They will live in the future also. They give life to hundreds of thousands of people, They give life to millions of people, and They always live. guru Nanak Sahib says, "God Almighty is immovable, He is indestructible, and those who mingle in Him also become indestructible like God Almighty is."

All the Saints who come into this world awaken us, the ones who are sleeping in the deep sleep of attachment. They come to awaken us, and They tell us, "You should do the work for which you have come into this world. You have not come here to live forever. You are like a traveler, and this opportunity which you have been given to do the devotion, so you should get up and you should do your devotion."

Dear Ones, I can give you many more examples, I can give you more quotes of many different Saints. All the Saints have talked about death. They have even said, "We do not know when the bell of death may ring."

Now coming to those people who make the prophecies and who talk about this. First of all, I would like to thank those dear ones, those people, who had concern for my health and those who showed their sympathy towards my health. But Dear Children, even the small children would think twice before saying things like this – those who talk about my leaving. Those who talk about my leaving, do they think that they will live in this world forever? do they think that they will not leave this world? How do they know if they will go after me or before me?

Dear Children, if a satsangi can carry his own burden that is more than enough for him. Those who say that they are carrying the burden of the Saint, that they are sharing the sufferings of the Master, they are in the great mistake. Dear Ones, I can tell you this thing for sure that such people are hungry for name and fame, and only so that people may praise them do they make such statements and say such things to the people in the sangat.

With the grace of God Sawan and with the grace of God Kirpal I saw in my within both of them as great Gods. And even outwardly also I saw them as God. and I never saw or heard either of Them making any prophecy or saying things about any other person leaving: "He will leave at that time." Nor did They talk about Their own leaving. I n fact, Master Sawan Singh Ji used to say those who make the prophecies or those who say these kinds of things, they do that only for the fact that they are craving for name and fame, only so that other people may come and praise them. And He used to say that we should never believe in such prophecies because it is the mean people who make such prophecies.

Maharaj Kirpal had given the program of Satsangis in various countries. And I know at least about Ghana, that He had made the program to go there [in 1972], but He had left the tour and He came back [to India] and he did not make any prophecy. He did not tell people that He was going to leave soon.

Many times in the Satsangs I have said that whatever pain and happiness, whatever comforts or discomforts, come to the Masters in the Will of the Lord, They always accept them and They do not make any excuses in going through the sufferings. They do not say, "But . . .," and They do not say, "Why?" They always accept them gladly and lovingly. Even if They are going to meet with an accident or even if They are going to lose a lot after getting up from one place, even if They know that, still They do not avoid that time. They always live in the Will of God Almighty and They teach us the same thing. The Master lives in the Will of God and we should live in the Will of the Master.

Dear Ones just imagine that if the Masters were to give such hints, or were to make such prophecies about leaving and all that – there are many dear ones, those who go within and who have been blessed by the master with the unbreakable love for the master. So if the Masters were to make such prophecies or if They were to give such hints, do you think that those dear ones will live? They will just die from the grief of it. When Master Sawan Singh Ji left the body, many people got the experience that He was going to leave before He died, and about two hundred people ended their life [from grief]. Somebody jumped in the well, and somebody jumped in the river. [So] Master Kirpal did not let anyone know that He was leaving. Not even Tai Ji who used to cook food for Him knew that He was going to leave. She was under this illusion that, "Now Master is perfectly all right."

Dear Ones, not everyone in the sangat is like a jackal. There are some tigers also. It is not [the case] that everyone who comes here or goes on tour, or those who attend the programs, that they just came here and close their eyes and go without receiving anything. There are many dear ones in your sangat, in your group, who go very far inside in their within, but they do not show it off to other people outside. They do not talk about all these things. Their humility is very unique and, in fact, you cannot even recognize them – that they are the ones who are going in the within. They do not talk about such things. They do not make such statements. And they always remain quiet. They are very humble.

Dear Ones, whenever I initiate anyone I put that soul in the jholi of the Lord Kirpal and Sawan. They are the only Ones Who can take on my burden. There is no one else who can share my sufferings or who can take on my burden. However, if you would do your Bhajan and Simran I will have to carry less karmas. It will surely help me and my health will remain better.

People had asked Master Sawan Singh, "It is written in your horoscope that You will live up to a hundred years, but it seems like You are preparing to leave now?" So Master Sawan Singh said, "Yes, if you will allow me to work without any disturbance, then I may live up to a hundred years. And if you will meditate more it will help me. Also if you will not write me letters in which you write about the worldly things, then it is possible that I may live longer." We know that Master Sawan Singh left ten years early. Similarly Master Kirpal went on saying this all His life long, "Meditate meditate. Do not feed your body until you have fed your soul with the food of meditation." He also left fourteen years early.

Well I am very thankful to the dear one who asked this question. It is good that he asked this question. No Saint has ever said that we will live in this world forever. All the Saints have said, "One day we have to leave this world, and we do not know when that moment will come when we will have to leave this complete world, this full world."

Suthra was a very fearless fakir and He lived a very long life. From the time of Guru Har Gobind until the Time of Guru Gobind Singh He was there, and He used to meditate a lot and He had attained the highest status. He was a perfect being. We got many humorous things from Him.

Once it is said that he spent a night in some religious place. Over there a newly-wed couple came to ask for the blessing. (You know that when we get married we often go to the religious places to ask for a blessing.) So that newly-wed couple went there to seek the blessing. Usually people carry some sweets, some money and things like that to offer to the deity that they worship. So when they went there, they offered some money on a plate which Suthra gave to the priest there, and the priest gave that newly-wed couple a blessing , saying, "May you live for four ages!"

When that couple turned towards Suthra for His blessings, " Look here," He told the bride, "You are going to die." And He told the groom, "One day you are also going to die." They got upset and said, "Well, haiya fakir, why are you doing this? Why are you cursing us?" He said, "I am telling you the truth. This is what will happen. And for saying the false things, the untrue things the priest is there whom we have given the money and he has given you false blessings!"

So Dear Ones, one day we all have to leave this world. Everyone has to die. Those people who make the prophecies of other people leaving, they forget that they also have to leave this world. As long as Lord Almighty Kirpal will continue showering His grace upon me, and as long as He makes me do the seva for the sangat, I am very happy serving the sangat. If you will do your Bhajan and Simran then definitely it will help me. I would like to tell you that you should not believe in such prophecies. You should not believe in those people who make such prophecies. You should do more Bhajan and Simran. This is my only message for all of you.

I received a cable at the Ashram, a very long cable, and Gurmel read it, and the people there were affected by it. It took me many days to convince them that nothing is going to happen. And it had a very bad effect on the sangat also. So the dear ones should not make such prophecies. They should not talk like this; instead they should do more Bhajan and Simran. As a matter of fact' everyone should always be prepared, because it is always much better to leave whenever the call comes.