themselves with their bodies in their previous life.They take rebirth because seeds of desire remained.
Even a Buddha is born if in his past life he attained asampragyata samadhi, but the seeds were there. He had to come once more. Even a Mahavira is born – once; the seeds bring him. But this is going to be the last life. After asampragyata samadhi, only one life is possible. But the quality of this life will be totally different because this man will not be identified with the body. This man really has nothing to do because the activity of the mind has ceased. What will he do? And why is this one life needed? He has just to allow those seeds to be manifested and he will remain a witness. This is the fire.
A man came to Buddha and spat on him; the man was very angry. Buddha wiped his face and asked, “What else do you have to say?”
The man couldn’t understand it, he was really angry – red-hot. He couldn’t even understand what Buddha was saying. The whole thing was so absurd because Buddha didn’t react. The man was at a loss – what to do, what to say. He went away, and couldn’t sleep the whole night. How can you sleep when you insult somebody and there is no reaction? Your insult comes back to you. You threw the arrow; it has not been received. It comes back. Finding no shelter, it comes back to the source. He insulted Buddha, but the insult couldn’t find a shelter there, so where will it go? – it comes back to the original master.
The whole night he was feverish; he couldn’t believe what had happened. He started repenting – that he was wrong, that he had not done a good thing. Early next morning he went and asked for forgiveness.
Buddha said, “Don’t worry about it. I must have done something wrong to you in the past. Now the account is closed. I am not going to react; otherwise again and again… Finished! I have not reacted because it was a seed somewhere and it had to be finished. Now my account with you is closed.”
In this life, when a videha – one who has understood that he is not the body, who has attained asampragyata samadhi – comes in the world, it is just to finish accounts. His whole life consists of finishing accounts; millions of lives, many relationships, many involvements, commitments – everything has to be closed.
It happened…
Buddha arrived at a village; the whole village had gathered together, and they were eager to listen to him. It was a rare opportunity because even the capital cities were continually inviting him, and he never visited. He had come to this small, out-of-the-way village without any invitation. The villagers would never have gathered enough courage to ask him to come to their village. It was small with just a few huts, and he had arrived without an invitation! The whole village was afire with excitement, and he was sitting under a tree and not speaking.
They asked him, “Who are you waiting for? Everybody is here; the whole village is here. You can start.”
Buddha replied, “But I have to wait because I have come for someone who is not here. A promise has to be fulfilled, an account closed. I am waiting for that one.”
A girl arrived, and Buddha started. After he had finished speaking, they asked him, “Were you waiting for this girl?” The girl belonged to the untouchables, to the lowest caste. Nobody thought that Buddha was waiting for her.
He replied, “Yes, I was waiting for her. When I was traveling here, she met me on the road and said, ‘Wait, because I am going to the other town for some work, but I will come soon.’ Somewhere in a past life I had given her a promise that when I became enlightened I would come and tell her what had happened to me. That account has to be closed. That promise is hanging on to me and if I cannot fulfill it, I will have to come again.”
A videha or a prakriti-laya… Both words are beautiful. Videha means bodiless. When you attain asampragyata samadhi the body is present, but you become bodiless. You are no longer the body. The body becomes the abode – you are not identified with it.
So these two terms are beautiful. Videha means one who knows that he is not the body – he knows, remember, not believes. And prakriti-laya, because one who knows that he is not the body, is no longer the prakriti, the nature.
The body belongs to the material. Once you’re not identified with the matter within you, you are not identified with the matter without, outside. A man who attains the state that he is no longer a body, attains that he is no longer the manifested, the prakriti – his nature is dissolved. There is no longer “the world” for him; he is not identified, he has become a witness to it. Such a man is also born at least once because he has to close many accounts; many promises have to be fulfilled, many karmas to be dropped.
It happened…
Buddha’s cousin, Devadatta, was against him; he tried to kill him in many different ways. Once, when Buddha was sitting under a tree, meditating, Devadatta pushed a big rock down from the top of a hill. Everyone ran away as the rock rolled down. Buddha remained there sitting under the tree – it was dangerous, the rock rolled down just touching him, brushing him.
Ananda asked him, “Why didn’t you get out of the way when we all did? There was enough time.”
Buddha replied, “There is enough time for you. My time is over. Devadatta has to do it. In the past, in some other life there was some karma. I must have given him some pain, some anguish, some anxiety. It has to be closed. If I escape, if I do anything, a new line starts again.”
A videha, a man who has attained asampragyata, does not react. He simply watches, witnesses. This is the fire of witnessing which burns all the seeds in the unconscious, and a moment comes when the soil is absolutely pure; there is no seed waiting to sprout. Then there is no need to come back. First the nature dissolves, and then he dissolves himself into the universe.
Videhas and prakriti-layas attain asampragyata samadhi because they ceased to identify themselves with their bodies in their previous life. They take rebirth because seeds of desire remained. I am here to fulfill something; you are here to close my account. You are not here accidentally. There are millions of people in the world. Why are you here and not somebody else? Something has to be closed.
Others who attain asampragyata samadhi attain through faith, effort, recollection, concentration, and discrimination.
So these are the two possibilities. If you have attained asampragyata samadhi in your past life, in this life you are born a buddha – just a few seeds have to be fulfilled, have to be dropped, burned. That’s why I say that you are born almost a buddha. There is no need for you to do anything, you simply have to watch whatever happens.
Hence Krishnamurti’s continuous insistence that there is no need to do anything. It is right for him, it is not right for his listeners. For his listeners, there is much that needs to be done, and they will be misguided by this statement. He is speaking about himself. He was born an asampragyata buddha, he was born a videha, he was born a prakriti-laya.
When he was just five years old he was taking a bath near Adyar, and one of the greatest Theosophists, Leadbeater, was watching him. He was a totally different type of child. If somebody threw mud at him, he would not react. There were many children playing there. If somebody pushed him into the river, he would simply go with it. Yes, he was not angry, he was not fighting. He had a totally different quality – the quality of an asampragyata buddha.
Leadbeater called Annie Besant and told her to watch this child. He was no ordinary child, and the whole Theosophical movement whirled around
