No Exit!!!

With every headline—be it war, terror, or tragedy—the mind drifts into a quiet unrest. From distant battlefields to sudden crashes, the fragility of life looms large, raising a question we often push aside: What if there’s no warning, no tomorrow, no certainty? In such times, one can’t help but wonder—what does it mean to truly live, when death seems so close, so random?
It is in this space of uncertainty that this blog finds its voice—seeking not answers, but a deeper understanding.

I have heard about Alexander the Great, that when he was reaching India, passing the big desert of Saudi Arabia, he was informed that there is a well in Saudi Arabia – if you drink out of that well you become immortal. Naturally, anybody would have been attracted, and particularly a man like Alexander the Great, who was nothing but a big ego. He wanted to conquer the whole earth, and he was afraid – is there time enough or not? The earth is so big…. He wanted to become the first man in history who has conquered the whole earth.

This was a good opportunity. If he is immortal, then there is no problem. And if someone is immortal—never going to die—he will not fall sick either, because sickness, illness, and disease are merely steps toward death. An immortal man will remain young and healthy, with no possibility of sickness or disease.

And Alexander was only thirty-three years old; this was a good time to become immortal. He was healthy, beautiful, strong – this was a good time to become immortal, that meant he would remain thirty-three forever.

He stopped his armies and he said, ”I am going to the well. Nobody comes with me.” He did not want anybody else to become immortal. If others also become immortal, his immortality would no longer be unique.

He went to the well – it is a beautiful story. In the East there are wells made in two ways. One is the ordinary way, a hole in the earth. To reach water level… you have to pull the water up in a bucket. There is also another type of well; only very rich people can afford it. On one side there is an arrangement where you can pull the water up in a bucket. On the side opposite to it there are steps going to the water itself. It is really cool there, silent.

I have been into many wells. When you sit there for hours, time seems to stop, the whole world seems to be so far away. The noise of the market, the people – nothing reaches there. Sixty feet deep in the earth, it is dark, cool, yet very fresh.

The well where Alexander went was this type of well. So he went in, step by step, immensely excited.

And just as he was making a cup out of his hands, and filling his hands with the water to drink, a crow who was sitting just nearby on a tree by the side of the well, said, ”Wait! Wait a minute!”

Alexander looked back. He could not believe that a crow – because there was nobody else – could speak, but he was speaking. The crow said, ”Wait.”

Alexander said, ”Why did you stop me? Don’t you know I am Alexander the Great? Nobody can stop me! And you are just a crow.”

The crow said, ”First listen to what I have to say to you, then do whatsoever you want. I have drunk from this well and I have become immortal. Now, for hundreds of years I have been trying to commit suicide – in this way, in that way. Nothing succeeds, and I am tired, utterly tired. And the very idea that I am going to live forever in this despair, in this anguish… even death is not going to relieve me. I have known everything, I have experienced everything. Now there is nothing in the future but a painful, miserable existence. That’s why I said, wait a moment. Now, think it over, and then if you feel like drinking, drink. But I am sitting here only to prevent people, because I am suffering so much.”

A moment of silence… Alexander’s hands dropped the water back into the well, and he said to the crow, ”Thank you, my friend. I am immensely grateful. I had never thought about it, that I would have to live forever and forever. My friends will be dying, my beloved will be dying, my parents will be dying, my teachers will be dying, my contemporaries will be dying – and I will remain stuck forever. No, I cannot drink this water, and I pray to you, please remain sitting here, because there are many fools like me. If they come to know about the well, stop them. It will be one of the greatest acts of compassion.”

There will come a point when you have experienced everything and there is nothing left for tomorrow. Then every day is just an emptiness which goes on repeating itself. It will be worse than death.

Alexander recognized for the first time that DEATH IS A GREAT HOPE.

You say death creates the illusion of life? No. It is death that makes you aware that if you want to live, live now, because tomorrow is uncertain. If you want to love, love now, because you may be in the crematorium anytime.

There are people who go on thinking that if they had made the world it would have been a better world. If they had made the world they would have done this and they would have done that. There would have been no disease, there would have been no death, there would have been no ugliness, there would have been no stupidity. And it looks so logical: yes, if a world is there where no disease exists, how beautiful it will be!

But do you know? – if there is no disease, there will be no health either.
Do you know? – if there is no ugliness, there will be no beauty either.
Do you know? – if there are no thorns, there will be no flowers either.
Do you know? – if there is no death, there will be no life either.

You cannot have a life without death. And if you could have a life without death it would be utterly boring; there would be no way to get rid of it.

Death is a great reminder. If there were no death in the world, it would have been just hell. Just think: all those people who have died and are sleeping peacefully in the graveyard, all those people who have been burned in crematoriums and have been freed completely, have evaporated into thin air…. Just think, if all those people – your father, your father’s father, and so on up to Adam and Eve – for millions of years, and nobody is dying…. what will be the situation? Do you think it will be very pleasant? It will be the worst that can happen.

Death makes life beautiful, because it makes you alert: don’t miss the train, don’t miss anything. Enjoy, relish everything possible to you, because tomorrow is death. Death is not your enemy, death is your greatest friend. Without death you will be just dead bodies moving around with no purpose, with no meaning, and no exit. If there can be any hell, its name will be ”NO EXIT.”

Death is your great friend, companion, which makes you love intensely, which makes you not want to miss anything. Religions have not told you the truth. They have been lying to you, telling you that beyond death there is paradise: all beautiful things, joys, blessings, freely available. These people are criminals, because they are destroying your present. They are giving you a hope of a better, far more fulfilling life… after death, so why be bothered about this small time? Why be bothered about living intensely, totally? Just wait for death to come.

Meanwhile you go on praying in the church, in the mosque, in the synagogue. You go on listening to all kinds of superstitions and stupidities – they call them sermons – and go on believing whatever the priest says to you. This is all that you have to do in life. And don’t commit a sin; otherwise you may miss paradise.

And if you look deep into the word ”sin,” you will be surprised. It means no joy, no laughter, no celebration, no love. Anything that makes you happy is condemned as sin by some religion or other. Remain serious, with long faces, dull, avoid living. Renounce life, love – renounce the world and move into some ugly caves in the mountains, and wait there chanting some mantra – transcendental meditation, or ”Ave maria, Ave maria.”

You have changed many houses, many bodies, and you are still here. Only when you become enlightened, then the work of death is finished, because after enlightenment you will not be changing the house, you will not be entering into another body. After enlightenment you will be entering into absolute freedom, you will be becoming one with the whole existence. You will be in the flowers, in the birds, in the sun, in the moon, in the rain, in the wind. You will be all over the place.

To become enlightened means to live this moment without any hesitation, without being half-hearted. Put everything at stake. Be a gambler! Risk everything, because the next moment is not certain. So why bother? Why be concerned?

Live dangerously!

Live joyously!

Live without fear, live without guilt; live without any fear of hell or any greed for heaven. Just live! Death is not creating any illusion for you, it is your mind. Put this mind aside, so that it cannot disturb your dance, your song, your music.

Without death, life would be an impossibly unbearable burden. Death relieves. And it is because of disease that you have the feeling of health. It is because of the dark night that the morning looks so beautiful.

Existence is dual, and existence is imperfect. But it is because of imperfection that there is growth. Just think, if everybody was perfect then there would be no growth. Then the world would be a graveyard; nothing would ever grow.

Osho: From the False to the Truth: CHAPTER 28. DEATH NEVER HAPPENS (excerpts)
Osho: Unio Mystica – Talks on Hakim Sanai’s “The Hadiqa”, Vol 1, Ch 9 (excerpt)
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हज़ारों ख़्वाहिशें ऐसी कि हर ख़्वाहिश पे दम निकले
बहुत निकले मिरे अरमान लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले…………….. मिर्ज़ा ग़ालिब

hazāroñ ḳhvāhisheñ aisī ki har ḳhvāhish pe dam nikle
bahut nikle mire armān lekin phir bhī kam nikle ……………..MIRZA GHALIB

Thousands of wishes were such that would take out my breath,
many inclinations were taken out but still they were less.

Nida Fazli, renowned Urdu shayar wrote this amazing song “Kabhi kisi ko muqammil jahan nahin milta” for the film “Ahista Ahista” (1981) penned by Nida Fazli, beautifully sung by Asha ji and a male version by Bhupinder Singhji, composed by Khayyam. The lyrics reflect the inherent incompleteness of existence, where no one gets a “perfect world.” The song poetically reminds us that no matter how much we seek completeness in the material world, something will always be missing. Perfection is an illusion—without death, life would be an unbearable burden; without darkness, we wouldn’t recognize light.

Perhaps, the song can serve as a gentle reminder that this incompleteness is not a flaw, but a feature of existence. The quest for a perfect, mukammil existence keeps us trapped; only when we surrender to the imperfection do we find true freedom.

kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahan nahi milta