Osho –
Dhammapada: The Way of The Buddha (Volume 6)
Chapter 4. This
too will pass
Beloved Master,
In spite of dreadful political
catastrophes, political action seems to be the only means to fight against
injustice in the world. Does the search you are inspiring exclude political
action?
Jean-Francois Held, I am in
love with life in its totality. My love excludes nothing; it includes all. Yes,
political action too is included in it. That's the worst thing to include, but
I can't help it! But everything that is included in my vision of life is
included with a difference.
In the past, man has lived
without awareness in all the aspects of life. He has loved without awareness
and failed in it, and love has brought only misery and nothing else.
He has done all kinds of things
in the past, but everything has proved a hell. So has been the case with
political action.
Each revolution turns into
antirevolution. It is time we should understand how this happens, why this
happens at all - that each revolution, each struggle against injustice, finally
turns into injustice itself, becomes antirevolutionary.
In this century it has happened
again and again - I am not talking about a faraway past.
It happened in Russia, it
happened in China. It is going to happen if we continue to function in the same
old way. Unawareness cannot bring more than that.
When you are powerless, it is
easy to fight against injustice; the moment you become powerful, you forget all
about injustice. Then repressed desires to dominate assert themselves. Then
your unconscious takes over, and you start doing the same things that were done
before by the enemies against whom you had been struggling. You had staked your
very life for it!
Lord Acton says that power
corrupts. It is true only in a sense, and in another sense it is absolutely
untrue. It is true if you look at the surface of things: power certainly
corrupts, whosoever becomes powerful becomes corrupted. Factually it is true,
but if you dive deep into the phenomenon then it is not true.
Power does not corrupt: it is
the corrupted people who become attracted towards power. It is the people who
would like to do things which they cannot do while they are not in power. The
moment they are in power, their whole repressed mind asserts itself.
Now there is nothing to bar
them, nothing to prevent them; they have the power. Power does not corrupt
them, it only brings their corruption to the surface. Corruption was there as a
seed; now it has sprouted. The power has proved only the right season for it to
sprout. Power is only the spring for the poisonous flowers of corruption and
injustice in their being.
Power is not the cause of
corruption, but only the opportunity for its expression. Hence I say:
basically, fundamentally, Lord Acton is wrong.
Who becomes interested in
politics? Yes, with beautiful slogans people go into it, but what happens to
those people? Joseph Stalin was fighting against the injustice of the czar.
What happened? He himself became the greatest czar the world has ever known,
worse than Ivan the Terrible! Hitler used to talk about socialism. He had named
his party the Nationalist Socialist Party. What happened to socialism when he
came into power? All that disappeared.
The same thing had happened in
India. Mahatma Gandhi and his followers were talking about nonviolence, love,
peace - all the great values cherished down the ages.
And when power came he escaped.
Mahatma Gandhi himself escaped because he became aware that if he took power in
his hands he would no longer be the mahatma, the sage. And the followers who
came into power were all proved as corrupted as anywhere else - and they were
all good people before they were in power, great servants of the people. They
had sacrificed much. They were not bad people in any way; in every possible way
they were good people. But even good people turn into bad people - that is
something fundamental to be understood.
I would like my sannyasins to
live life in its totality, but with an absolute condition, categorical
condition: and that condition is awareness, meditation. Go first deep into
meditation, so you can cleanse your unconscious of all poisonous seeds, so
there is nothing to be corrupted and there is nothing inside you which power
can bring forth.
And then do whatsoever you feel
like doing.
If you want to become a
painter, become a painter. Your painting will have a difference; it won't be
like Picasso. Picasso's paintings are insane - he IS insane! In fact, if he had
been prevented from painting he would have been in a madhouse. Through his
paintings he is catharting, throwing out his insanity onto the canvas, getting
rid of it.
Yes, he feels better - it is a
kind of vomiting! After vomiting you feel better, but what about others who
look at your vomit! But the world is so stupid that if Picasso vomits, people
say, "What a great painting - something never seen before, something
unique!"
Vincent van Gogh really went
insane, had to be hospitalized for one year, and then he committed suicide. And
he was not more than thirty-seven. Now, what kind of paintings had this man
been doing? Certainly he had the art, the skill, but the art and the skill were
in the hands of a madman, suicidal. Watching his paintings you will feel
restless, uneasy. Keep a Picasso painting in your bedroom and you will have
nightmares!
A meditator can become a
painter, but then something totally different will come out of him - something
of the beyond, because he will be capable to receive God. He can become a
dancer; his dance will have a new quality to it: it will allow the divine to be
expressed. He can become a musician... or he can go into political action, but
his political action will be rooted in meditation. Hence there will be no fear
of a Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler or Mao Zedong coming out of it; that is
impossible.
I don't tell anybody to go in a
certain direction; I leave my disciples totally free. I simply teach them
meditation. I teach them being more alert, more aware, and then it is up to
them. Whatsoever their natural potential is they will find it, but it is going
to be with awareness. Then there is no danger.
Jean-Francois Held, I am not
against political action - I am not against anything. I am not life-negative; I
affirm life, I am in absolute love with life!
And of course, when millions of
people are on the earth, there is going to be some kind of politics or other.
Politics cannot just disappear. It will be like dissolving the police, the post
office, the railway - it will create a chaos.
And I am not an anarchist and I
am not in favor of chaos. I want the world to be more beautiful, more
harmonious, more of a cosmos than of a chaos. Sometimes I praise chaos, only in
order to destroy that which is rotten. I praise destructiveness also, only in
order to create. Yes, sometimes I am very negative - I am against conventions,
conformities, traditions - only to make you free so that you can create new
visions, new worlds, so that you need not remain imprisoned with the past, so
that you can have a future and a present. But I am not destructive. My whole
effort is to help you to be creative.
A few people out of my
sannyasins are bound to go into political action, but I will allow them only
when they have fulfilled the basic condition: when they are more alert, aware,
when their inner being is full of light. Then do whatsoever you want to do -
you can't bring harm to the world. You will bring something good, something
beautiful; you will be a blessing to the world. Without it, without that
awareness, even if you do something good, it is going to turn into something
harmful.
Just a few days ago, Mother
Teresa of Calcutta had received the Nobel Prize. Now this is something utterly
stupid! The Nobel Prize Award Committee has never done anything so foolish
before - but on the surface it looks beautiful. It is being praised all over
the world, that they have done something great.
J. Krishnamurti has not
received a Nobel Prize - and he is one of those rare human beings, those few of
the buddhas, who are really laying the foundation for world peace.
And Mother Teresa has received
the Nobel Prize for world peace. Now, I don't understand what she has done for
world peace! George Gurdjieff didn't receive a Nobel Prize, and he was working
hard to transform the inner core of human beings; Raman Maharshi didn't receive
the Nobel Prize - because their work is invisible: their work is that of
bringing more consciousness to people. When you bring bread to people it is
visible, when you bring clothes to people it is visible, when you bring
medicines to people it is visible. When you bring God to people, it is
absolutely invisible.
Mother Teresa is doing
something good on the surface only: serving the poor of Calcutta, the ill, the
diseased, the old, the orphans, the widows, the lepers, the crippled, the
blind. It is so obvious that she is doing something good! But basically what
she is doing is consoling these people. And giving consolation to the poor, to
the blind, to the lepers, to the orphans, is an antirevolutionary act. To
console them means to help them remain adjusted with the society that exists,
to remain attuned with the status quo.
What she is doing is
antirevolutionary. But the governments are happy, the rich people are happy,
the powerful people are happy, because she is really NOT serving the blind and
the poor. She is serving the vested interests, she is serving the priests and
the politicians and the powers; she is helping them to remain in their power.
She is making, creating, an atmosphere in which the old can continue.
In India no revolution has ever
happened against the powerful, the rich, the wealthy, for the simple reason
that it is a so-called religious country; there are so many consolers.
Fifty lakhs of Hindu monks
consoling people, giving them explanations why they are poor, why they are
blind, why they are crippled: because of their past karmas! They have done
something bad in their past lives, hence they are suffering. "Suffer
silently, don't react," they go and teach these people, "because if
you react, if you do something again, again you will suffer in your next life.
Don't miss this opportunity, let the accounts be closed. This time behave in a
good way!" And of course, to be a revolutionary is not something good! Be
obedient - that is good - don't be disobedient.
Disobedience is evil, it is
sin. The Christians call it the original sin.
What was the sin of Adam and
Eve? - just because they had disobeyed God. There seems to be not much of a sin
in it. Eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge is not a sin. Why should it
be called the original sin? It is called the original sin because they
disobeyed. To disobey is the greatest sin in the eyes of the priests.
For ten thousand years in India
these priests and the monks have been teaching people, "Be obedient to the
system that is in power. Don't disobey; otherwise you will suffer in your
future." Hence no revolution has happened, and these monks and priests are
praised very much.
Now Christian missionaries are
doing the same all over the world: serving the poor, the crippled. They are
telling these poor people, "Suffer silently - it may be a test for you
that God has created. You have to pass through this fire, only then will you
become pure gold." Christian missionaries are antirevolutionary.
And why are they serving these
poor people? - because of greed! They want to get to paradise, and the only way
to get to paradise is through service. Now sometimes I wonder what will happen
if there is nobody who is crippled, blind, poor; what will happen to the
Christian missionaries? How will they reach paradise? The very ladder will
disappear! They will miss the boat, there will be no possibility to go to the
other shore. These Christian missionaries would like the poverty to continue,
they would like these poor people to remain on the earth. The more poor there
are, the more opportunities to serve, and of course, more people can get to
heaven.
Giving the Nobel Prize to
Mother Teresa is giving the Nobel Prize to antirevolutionary acts.
But that's how it has always
been happening: you praise those people who somehow confirm the old, the dead,
who help the society to remain as it is.
My work is invisible. In fact,
I am teaching you, in an indirect way, the greatest revolution possible. I am
teaching you rebellion, and this rebellion is multidimensional: wherever you
will go, this rebellion will have its impact. If you go into poetry you will
write rebellious poetry. If you go into music you will create a new kind of
music. If you dance, your dance will have a different flavor. And if you go
into politics, you will change the whole face of political action itself.
Jean-Francois Held, I am not
against political action, but the way it has been up to now is utterly
meaningless. Hence on the surface, nobody can see that I am involved in any
political activity, nobody can see that I am involved in any kind of worldly
activity.
I am teaching people to sit
silently, watch their thoughts, get out of their minds. The stupid
revolutionary will think that I am against political action, that I am a
reactionary.
Just the reverse is the case.
Out of his stupidity - although he may talk about revolution - what he is going
to do is going to be reactionary. He will drag the society backwards.
I am not doing anything that can
be called political, social: I am not for social reform or political action. At
least on the surface I look like an escapist and I am helping people to escape.
Yes, I am helping people to escape to themselves.
Escape from all kinds of
unintelligent activities. First sharpen your intelligence. Let a great joy
arise in you. Become more watchful, so much so that not even a corner in your
being is dark anymore. Let your unconscious be transformed into consciousness.
Then do whatsoever you want to
do. Then if you want to go to hell, go with my blessings, because you will be
able to transform hell itself.
It is not that meditators go to
heaven, no: wherever they go they are in heaven and whatsoever they do is
divine. But this is such a new approach that it will take time to be
understood. I am using such a different language that it is natural that I will
be misunderstood.
A beatnik ran through a red
light. The cop pulled him over and said, "Did you not see the red
light?"
The beatnik replied,
"Like, man, I did not even see the house!"
There are different languages!
As Harry was shaving one
morning he called out, "You know, sweetheart, I don't seem to get along
too well with the other fellows at the office."
There was no response.
"Darling, the boys treat
me like I am a little odd."
There was still no response.
He put the razor away and
started to comb his hair.
"Lovey, the boys seem to
think that I am queer."
Still getting no reply he
finally shouted, "For heaven's sake, John, aren't you listening?"
I am talking one language, and
people are accustomed to a totally different language.
Unless you meditate you will
not be able to understand what is happening here, what I am saying and what I
am doing.
Three men, English, Arabian and
American, were standing on a street corner in Casablanca, when a spectacular
oriental beauty walked haughtily by them.
"By Jove!" exclaimed
the Englishman.
"By Allah!" sighed
the Arabian.
"By tomorrow night!"
said the American.
Question 2:
Beloved Master,
To many people in the west, the master/disciple
relationship is outside their experience. What does it involve?
Chris Lister, Allen Jewhurst,
Lesley Rogers, the East has contributed a few tremendously significant things
to human consciousness. One of those beautiful things is the phenomenon of the
master/disciple relationship. It is an Eastern contribution; just as science is
a Western phenomenon, mysticism is Eastern. Science is extrovert, mysticism is
introvert. Science is trying to know the objective reality, and mysticism is an
exploration of the subjective reality, of the interiority of your own being.
In the world of science the
teacher/student relationship exists, because science can be taught - hence the
teacher/ student relationship. But religion, mysticism, cannot be taught, it
can only be caught. Hence in mysticism there is no relationship like the
teacher/student relationship. A totally different kind of relationship exists:
the master/disciple. The differences are tremendous, the differences are great.
Between a student and a
teacher, doubt is the method. The teacher is there to help your doubts
disappear, he is there to answer your questions; he is there to inform you,
make you more knowledgeable. The student is there with all his questions,
curiosities, doubts.
In fact, the more intelligent
he is, the more doubtful he will be. The best student is full of doubts, and
the best teacher is one who helps the student with new answers, new knowledge,
so that his doubts can be disposed of. Science uses doubt as the method; that's
its fundamental method of inquiry.
In the world of religion just
the opposite is the case: trust is the method, not doubt; love is the method,
not logic; surrender is the method, not conquest of knowledge. The student,
when he comes from the university, comes with great ego because he has
accumulated much knowledge, he has learned much. But the disciple, when he
comes from the master, comes as a nobody, egoless. He no longer exists as a
separate entity from existence. He has not learned anything; on the contrary,
he has unlearned whatsoever he used to know before.
A great philosopher had come to
see Raman Maharshi - a German philosopher. He asked Raman, "I have come
from far far away, to learn much from you."
Raman laughed and he said,
"Your journey has been an exercise in futility.
Unnecessarily you traveled to
me, because I am not here to teach you anything - if you have come to learn,
you have come to the wrong place - I help people to UNlearn!"
The master helps you to unlearn.
The master helps you to become innocent again, childlike.
Jesus says: Unless you are like
a child, unless you are reborn, you shall not enter into my kingdom of God. He
is speaking an Eastern language. Jesus traveled to India; whatsoever he taught
later on, he had imbibed that spirit in this country. In fact, it was one of
the reasons that he was crucified. It was one of the basic reasons why his
people could not understand him: he was bringing a totally new language, a new
approach, a new vision.
The East has always been the
source. Pythagoras came to the East, Jesus came to the East... and whatsoever
the West has ever come to know about master-and-discipleship has been
experienced through the East, directly or indirectly.
The master/disciple
relationship is a love affair, the greatest love affair possible. The disciple
surrenders his ego to the master. He bows down. He says: Buddham Sharanam Gachchhami - I bow down to the buddha, I surrender
to the buddha, I take shelter at your feet. The moment he drops his ego he
becomes part of the being of the master.
And the master is no more there
as a person, he is only a presence. And when two presences meet, the greatest
orgasmic experience happens, the greatest ecstasy. That ecstasy is the goal of
the master-and-disciple relationship. That ecstasy has been happening for
centuries in a very mysterious way: the master says nothing about it, the
disciple hears nothing about it, but sitting by the side of the master,
silently waiting, patiently, prayerfully, one day the synchronicity... One day,
suddenly, the disciple starts breathing with the master. His heartbeat is no
longer separate from the master's heartbeat. They disappear as two and become
one.
That experience of oneness with
the master is the opening of the door of the temple of God.
Question 3:
Beloved Master,
What is platonic love?
Krishna Deva, love is simply
love. It can't be Platonic or Hegelian or Kantian - love is simply love!
Platonic love is another name for homosexuality. Plato seems to be the first
person who believed in homosexuality. Many must have practiced it before him,
but he is the first proponent of it.
The Greek idea of beauty was
not that of feminine beauty - but male beauty. You must have seen in the
museums Greek painting, sculpture, and you must have observed: you never come
across the paintings of a nude woman or statues of nude women. No, it is always
man.
Platonic love is just a good
name for homosexuality. It is better to call it what it actually is rather than
giving it a beautiful label.
But love is neither homosexual
nor heterosexual. Love is simply love! In fact, love has nothing to do with the
object. Love is a state of your consciousness when you are joyous, when there
is a dance in your being. Something starts vibrating, radiating, from your
center; something starts pulsating around you. It starts reaching people: it
can reach women, it can reach men, it can reach rocks and trees and stars.
When I am talking about love, I
am talking about this love: a love that is not a relationship but a state of
being. Always remember: whenever I use the word 'love' I use it as a state of
being, not as a relationship. Relationship is only a very minor aspect of it.
But your idea of love is basically that of relationship, as if that is all.
Relationship is needed only
because you can't be alone, because you are not yet capable of meditation.
Hence, meditation is a must before you can really love. One should be capable
of being alone, utterly alone, and yet tremendously blissful. Then you can
love.
Then your love is no more a
need but a sharing, no more a necessity. You will not become dependent on the
people you love. You will share - and sharing is beautiful.
But what ordinarily happens in
the world is: you don't have love, the person you think you love has no love in
his being either, and both are asking for love from each other.
Two beggars begging each other!
Hence, the fight, the conflict, the continuous quarrel between the lovers - on
trivia, on immaterial things, on stupid things! - but they go on quarreling.
The basic quarrel is that the
husband thinks he is not getting what is his right to get, the wife thinks she
is not getting what is her right to get. The wife thinks she has been deceived
and the husband also thinks that he has been deceived. Where is the love?
Nobody bothers to give,
everybody wants to get. And when everybody is after getting, nobody gets it.
And everybody feels at a loss, empty, tense.
The basic foundation is missing,
and you have started making the temple without the foundation. It is going to
fall and collapse any moment. And you know how many times your love has
collapsed, and still you go on doing the same thing again and again.
You live in such unawareness!
You don't see what you have been doing to your life and to others' lives. You
go on mechanically, robotlike, repeating the old pattern, knowing perfectly
well you have done this before. And you know what has always been the outcome,
and deep down you are also alert that it is going to happen the same way again
- because there is no difference. You are preparing for the same conclusion,
the same collapse.
If you can learn anything from
the failure of love, then that thing is: become more aware, become more meditative.
And by meditation I mean the capacity to be joyous alone. Very rare people are
capable of being blissful for no reason at all - just sitting silently and
blissful! Others will think them mad, because the idea of happiness is that it
has to come from somebody else. You meet a beautiful woman and you are happy or
you meet a beautiful man and you are happy. Sitting silently in your room and
so blissful, so blissed out? You must be crazy or something! People will
suspect that you are on a drug, stoned.
Yes, meditation is the ultimate
LSD! It is releasing your own psychedelic powers. It is releasing your own
imprisoned splendor. And you become so joyous, such a celebration arises in
your being, that you need not have any relationship. Still you can relate with
people... and that's the difference between relating and relationship.
Relationship is a thing: you
cling to it. Relating is a flow, a movement, a process. You meet a person, you
are loving, because you have so much love to give - and the more you give, the
more you have. Once you have understood this strange arithmetic of love:
that the more you give, the
more you have... This is just against the economic laws that operate in the
outside world. Once you have known that, if you want to have more love and more
joy, you give and share, then you simply share. And whosoever allows you to
share your joy with him or with her, you feel grateful to him or her. But it is
not a relationship; it is a riverlike flow.
The river passes by the side of
a tree, saying hello, nourishing the tree, giving water to the tree... and it
moves on, dances on. It does not cling to the tree. And the tree does not say,
"Where are you going? We are married! And before you can leave me you will
need a divorce, at least a separation! Where are you going? And if you were to
leave me, why had you danced so beautifully around me? Why in the first place
did you nourish me?" No, the tree showers its flowers onto the river in
deep gratefulness, and the river moves on. The wind comes and dances around the
tree and moves on. And the tree gives its fragrance to the wind.
This is relating. If humanity
is ever going to become grown-up, mature, this will be the way of love: people
meeting, sharing, moving, a nonpossessive quality, a nondominating quality.
Otherwise love becomes a power trip.
Don't be worried, Krishna Deva,
about what platonic love is. Meditate on: what is love?
Mrs. Green and her neighbor,
Mrs. Kenyon, were having a chat one day.
"Mrs. Green," said
Mrs. Kenyon, "maybe it is none of my business, but after all we have been
friends a long time and I am concerned about your reputation. You are divorced,
that's true, but people are talking about you. It just does not look right when
an eighteen-year-old boy comes every night and visits you till such a late
hour."
"Well," Mrs. Green
smiled, "don't worry about it. It is purely a platonic relationship."
"How can it be
platonic?" Mrs. Kenyon asked.
"Well," said Mrs.
Green, "it is play for him and it is tonic for me!"
That's what platonic love is:
play for one, tonic for the other! More than that I don't know anything about
it!
Question 4:
Beloved Master,
I am a businessman. Can I also meditate and
become a sannyasin?
Ram Prasad, one has to do
something in life. Somebody is a carpenter and somebody is a king, and somebody
is a businessman and somebody is a warrior. These are ways of livelihood, these
are ways of getting bread and butter, a shelter. They can't change your inner
being. Whether you are a warrior or a businessman does not make any difference:
one has chosen one way to earn his livelihood, the other has chosen something
else.
Meditation is life, not
livelihood. It has nothing to do with what you do; it has everything to do with
what you are. Yes, business should not enter into your being, that is true. If
your being also has become businesslike, then it is difficult to meditate and
impossible to be a sannyasin... because if your being has become businesslike,
then you have become too calculative. And a calculative person is a cowardly
person: he thinks too much, he cannot take any jumps.
And meditation is a jump: from
the head to the heart, and ultimately from the heart to the being. You will be
going deeper and deeper, where calculations will have to be left behind, where
all logic becomes irrelevant. You cannot carry your cleverness there.
In fact, cleverness is not true
intelligence either; cleverness is a poor substitute for intelligence. People
who are not intelligent learn how to be clever. People who are intelligent need
not be clever; they are innocent, they need not be cunning. They function out
of a state of not-knowing.
If you are a businessman,
that's okay. If Jesus can become a meditator and a sannyasin, and ultimately a
christ, a buddha... and he was the son of a carpenter, helping his father,
bringing wood, cutting wood. If a carpenter's son can become a buddha, why not
you?
Kabir was a weaver. He
continued his work his whole life; even after his enlightenment he was still
weaving; he loved it! Many times his disciples asked him, prayed to him with
tears in their eyes, that "You need not work anymore - we are here to take
care of you! So many disciples, why go on in your old age spinning,
weaving?"
And Kabir would say, "But
do you know for whom I am weaving, for whom I am spinning? For God! - because
everyone is now a god to me. It is my way of prayer."
If Kabir can become a buddha
and still remain a weaver, why can't you?
But business should not enter
into your being. Business should be just an outside thing, just one of the ways
of livelihood. When you close your shop, forget all about your business. When
you come home, don't carry the shop in your head. When you are home with your
wife, with your children, don't be a businessman. That is ugly: that means your
being is becoming colored by your doing. Doing is a superficial thing. The
being should remain transcendental to your doing and you should always be
capable of putting your doing aside and entering into the world of your being.
That's what meditation is all about.
A marriage broker was trying to
arrange a match between a businessman and a beautiful young girl. But the
businessman was very cagey. "Before I buy goods," the businessman
said, "I look over samples, and before I get married I must also have a
sample."
"But good heavens, man,
you can't ask a respectable girl for a thing like that!" the broker
replied.
"Sorry," insisted the
other, "I am strictly business and I want it done in my way or not at
all."
The broker went off in despair
to talk with the girl. "I have got you a fine fellow," he said,
"with lots of money. But strictly business he is, and he don't do nothing
blind. He must have a sample."
"Listen," said the
girl. "I am as smart in business as he is. Samples I won't give him -
references I will!"
If you are that kind of
businessman, Ram Prasad, then it is going to be difficult to meditate and
impossible to be a sannyasin.
But you have come here, you
have been listening to me; even the desire to become a sannyasin has arisen in
you. That is a good indication that business has not yet poisoned your soul
totally. A part of you is still available for love, a part of you is still
available for God. A part of you is still not businesslike - otherwise you would
not be here.
Businesslike people can't come
to me; it is impossible for them to have any communion with me. They can't
understand a single word uttered here - and what to say about the silence that
is present here? They live in a totally different world, in a very mundane
world.
It was quite a swanky bar in
the best part of town. The new arrival ordered a bottle of beer. Paying with a
dollar bill, he was surprised when the young bartender gave him ninety cents
change. When questioned about it the bartender said that a dime was all he was
charging.
The customer, being hungry and
pleased with the apparently low prices of the place, ordered a ham and cheese
sandwich on rye.
"That will be fifteen
cents," said the barkeeper.
The customer's eyes widened:
"I can't understand. How can you sell stuff so low?" he asked.
"Listen, buddy," said
the bartender, "I just work here. I am not the boss. He is upstairs with
my wife and I am doing the same thing to him down here!"
There is a certain mind which
functions always in a businesslike way; in every dimension of life he is always
a businessman. If you are that kind of businessman, then this is not the place
for you.
This is the place for gamblers.
This is the place for people who can risk - who can risk all for nothing. Yes,
exactly all for nothing, because meditation will bring you to nothingness. But
those who arrive at the nothingness of meditation, immediately become aware
that they have arrived at the fullness of God, too. Nothingness of you is the
fullness of God, it is the other aspect. YOU become nothing, and suddenly a
great plenitude descends in you - you are overflowing with God. By becoming
nothing you become spacious, you become a host to the great guest.
But if you are continuously
calculating you cannot become nothing. How can you drop all for being nothing?
You will always be calculating: you will move cautiously.
Then this is not the place for
you. Then you go to some old, traditional, pseudo teachers.
They will console you. They
will tell you that you can remain a businessman and still can open a bank
account in paradise. Be charitable, give some charity: donate to the poor;
donate to the temple, or the church, or the synagogue; to the hospital; to the
school - and you will be rewarded in your afterlife. Just do virtuous things
which you can afford. If you exploit people, you can always give a portion back
to them.
I have heard:
In a church the priest was
telling the people, "The building is getting very old and we need
money."
Nobody responded - all
businessmen! Everybody was looking at each other; everybody was waiting and
expecting that somebody would be foolish enough.
And then a woman stood up - the
prostitute of the town! - and she said, "I donate ten thousand dollars to
the church."
The priest could not believe
his ears, his eyes! For a moment he was in shock, and then he said, "But I
cannot accept your money - I cannot accept any wrong money."
One businessman stood up and
said, "You don't worry, that is our money! It is only coming via her - you
can accept it!"
You can donate a little bit to
the church, to some charitable institution, you can give some money to the poor
people. These are the consolations. And a place for you will be reserved in
heaven.
Don't be such a fool - heaven
is not so cheap. In fact, there is no place like heaven anywhere; it is
something inside you. No charity can lead you there, but if you reach there
your whole life becomes a charity; that is a totally different phenomenon. If
you reach there, your whole life becomes compassion.
Remain a businessman, but for a
few hours forget all about it. I am not here to tell you to escape from your
ordinary life. I am here to tell you the ways and the means, the alchemy, to
transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Be a businessman in your shop
and don't be a businessman at your home. And sometimes for a few hours forget
even the home, the family, the wife, the children. For a few hours just be
alone with yourself. Sink deeper and deeper into your own being. Enjoy yourself,
love yourself.
And slowly slowly, you will
become aware, a great joy is welling up, with no cause from the outside world,
uncaused from the outside. It is your own flavor, it is your own flowering.
This is meditation.
Sitting silently, doing nothing,
the spring comes and the grass grows by itself. Sit silently, doing nothing,
and wait for the spring. It comes, it always comes, and when it comes, the
grass grows by itself. You will see great joy arising in you for no reason at
all. Then share it, then give it to people! Then your charity will be inner.
Then it will not be just a means to attain to some goal; then it will have
intrinsic value.
And once you have become a
meditator, sannyas is not far away! My sannyas particularly is nothing but
living in the ordinary world, but living in such a way that you are not
possessed by it; remaining transcendental, remaining in the world and yet a
little above it. That is sannyas.
It is not the old sannyas, Ram
Prasad: in that you have to escape from your wife, your children, your
business, and go to the Himalayas. That kind of thing has not worked at all.
Many went to the Himalayas, but they carried their stupid minds with them. The
Himalayas have not been of any help to them; on the contrary, they have destroyed
the beauty of the Himalayas, that's all. How can the Himalayas help you? You
can leave the world, but you cannot leave your mind here. The mind will go with
you; it is inside you. And wherever you are, your same mind will create the
same kind of world around you.
A great mystic was dying. He
called his disciple, the chief disciple. The disciple rejoiced very much that
the master is calling him. There is a great crowd and he is calling only him;
he must be giving some secret key that he has not given to anybody up to now.
"This is the way he is
choosing me as his successor!" He came close.
The master said, "I have
only one thing to tell you. I didn't listen to my master - he had also told me
when he was dying, but I was just a fool and I didn't listen, and I didn't even
understand what he meant. But I am telling you from my own experience he is
right, although it had looked very absurd when he said it to me."
The disciple asked, "What
is it? Please tell me. I will try to follow it word by word."
The master said, "It is a
very simple thing: never, never in your life keep a cat in your house!"
And before the disciple could have asked why, the master died!
Now he was at a loss - what a
stupid kind of thing! And now whom to ask? He inquired of some old people in
the village, "Is there any clue to this message? There must be something
mysterious in this!"
One old man said, "Yes, I
know, because his master - your master's master - had also told him, 'Never,
never keep a cat in your house!' but he didn't listen. I know the whole
story."
The disciple said, "Please
tell me so I can understand. What is the secret hidden behind it? I want it to
be decoded for me so I can follow it."
The old man laughed. He said,
"It is a simple thing, it is not absurd. Your master's master had given
him a great message, but he never inquired, 'What is the meaning of it?' You
are at least intelligent enough to inquire about it. He simply forgot about it.
Your master was young when the
message was given; he used to live in the forest. He had only just two clothes
with him; that was all that he possessed. But there were big rats in the house
and they would destroy his clothes, and again and again he would have to ask
the villagers for new clothes.
"The villagers said, 'Why
don't you keep a cat? You just keep a cat and the cat will eat the rats and
there will be no problem. Otherwise - we are poor people - how can we go on
supplying you new clothes every month?'
"It was so logical that he
asked somebody for a cat. He got a cat, but then the problems started. The cat
certainly saved his clothes, but the cat needed milk because once the rats were
finished the cat was starving. And the poor man could not meditate because the
cat was always there, crying, weeping, going round and round and round him.
"He went to the villagers
and they said, 'This is a difficult thing - now we will have to supply milk for
you. We can give you a cow. You be finished, you keep the cow. You can drink,
and your cat can also survive. That way you need not come every day for your
food either.'
"The idea was perfectly
right. He took the cow... now the world started. That's how the world starts.
The cow needed grass, and the people said, 'We will come in the coming holidays
and we will clear the forest, prepare the ground. You start growing a little
wheat, other things, and leave a part for the grass.'
"And the villagers came
according to their promise. They cleared the forest, they cleaned the soil,
they planted wheat. But now it was such a problem: you have to water... And the
whole day the poor man was engaged in looking after the field. No time to
meditate, no time to read the scriptures!
"He again went to the
villagers. He said, 'I am getting deeper and deeper into difficulties. Now the
question is, when to meditate - no time is left.'
"They said, 'You wait. One
woman has just become a widow, and she is young and we are afraid that she will
tempt the young people in the town. You please take her with you. And she is
healthy enough - she will take care of your field, the cow, the cat, and she
will prepare food for you, and she is very religious too. And don't be worried,
she will not disturb you.'
"That's how things move to
their logical conclusion. Now from the cat, how far the man had moved!
"And the woman came and
she started looking after him, and he was very happy for a few days. And she
would massage his feet... and slowly slowly, what was going to happen happened:
they got married. And when you get married in India, at least one dozen
children - one dozen is the minimum! So all meditation, all sannyas,
disappeared.
"He remembered only when
he was dying. He remembered again that when his master was dying he had told
him, 'Beware of the cats.' That's why he has told you. Now you be aware of the
cats! Just one step in the wrong direction and you have to go the wrong way;
and your mind is with you wherever you go."
I have moved in the Himalayas.
Once I was in a deep part of the Himalayas with two of my friends. We entered
an empty cave; it was so beautiful that we stayed the night there.
In the morning a monk came and
he said, "Get out! This is my cave!"
I said, "How can this cave
be yours? I don't see - this is a natural cave. You don't claim it, you can't
claim it - you have not made it. And you have renounced the world, your house,
your wife, your children, your money, and everything, and now you are claiming,
'This is my cave - you get out of it!' This is nobody's cave!"
He was very angry. He said,
"You don't know me - I am a dangerous man! I can't leave it to you. I have
been living in this cave for thirteen years!"
We provoked him as much as we
could and he was all fire, ready to fight, ready to kill!
And then I said to him,
"Wait - we will leave. We were just provoking you to show you that thirteen
years have passed, but you have the same mind. Now this cave is 'yours',
because you have lived here thirteen years so it is yours. You had not brought
it with your birth and you will not take it away when you die. And we are not
going to stay here forever, just an overnight stay. We are just travelers, we
are not monks. I have just come to see how many stupid people are living in
these parts - and you seem to be the tops!"
You can leave the world... you
will be the same. You will again create the same world, because you carry the
blueprint in your mind. It is not a question of leaving the world, it is a
question of changing the mind, renouncing the mind. That's what meditation is
and that's what sannyas is.
Question 5:
Beloved Master,
What is unawareness?
Dinkar, to be in the mind, to
be identified with the mind, is unawareness. To think that "I am the
mind," is unawareness.
To know that mind is only a
mechanism just as the body is, to know that the mind is separate... The night
comes, the morning comes: you don't get identified with the night.
You don't say, "I am
night," you don't say, "I am morning." The night comes, the
morning comes, the day comes, again the night comes; the wheel goes on moving,
but you remain alert that you are not these things. The same is the case with
the mind.
Anger comes, but you forget -
you become anger. Greed comes, you forget - you become greed. Hate comes, you
forget - you become hate. This is unawareness.
Awareness is watching that the
mind is full of greed, full of anger, full of hate or full of lust, but you are
simply a watcher. Then you can see greed arising, becoming a great, dark cloud,
then dispersing - and you remain untouched. How long can it remain?
Your anger is momentary, your
greed is momentary, your lust is momentary. Just watch a little and you will be
surprised: it comes and it goes. And you are remaining there unaffected, cool,
calm.
A great king asked a Sufi
mystic to give him something in writing - a sutra, a small maxim which would
help him in every possible situation, good, bad, which would help him in
success, in failure, in life, in death.
The Sufi gave him his ring and
told him, "There is a message. Whenever you are really in need, in a real
emergency, just open the ring, take up the diamond, and inside you will find
the message - but not out of curiosity, only when there is real danger which
you cannot face on your own and you need me, you can see the message."
Many times the king became
curious what is in there, but he resisted his temptation: he had given his
promise, his word. He was a man of his word.
After ten years he was attacked
and defeated. He ran away into the forest, into the mountains, and the enemy
was following him. He could hear the horses coming closer and closer - it was
death coming closer. They would kill him! But he was going as fast as he could
on his horse. Tired he was, tired was his horse; wounded he was, wounded was
his horse.
And then suddenly he came to a
cul-de-sac. The way ended; there was an abyss. And there was no possibility of
turning back because the enemy was closing in, at every moment coming closer.
He could not take the jump into the abyss; that was sure death.
Except for waiting there was
nothing to do.
Suddenly he remembered the
ring. He opened the ring, removed the diamond. Inside there was a piece of
paper; on the piece of paper just a simple, single sentence: "This too
will pass away." And suddenly a great calmness descended on him:
"This too will pass away."
And it happened exactly like
that. He was hearing those noises coming closer; by and by he started hearing
them going farther away. They had taken a wrong turn. He had passed a
crossroad, they must have moved on some other road. Then he gathered his
armies, fought the enemies again, won back his kingdom. He was received with
great joy, garlanded, flowers showered, the whole capitol decorated for his
welcome.
Suddenly he felt great ego
arising in him. Again he remembered the message, "This too will pass
away," and the ego disappeared. And all those garlands and all that
welcome became just a child's play. In failure it helped, in success it helped.
That became his meditation,
that became his mantra. So whatsoever would come he would repeat deep down -
not verbally, but the feeling would be there in his heart - "This too will
pass away."
If you can remember it, then
whatsoever comes into your mind you remain simply a witness: "This too
will pass away." That witnessing is awareness - but we are identified.
We become greed, we become
anger, we become lust. Whatsoever comes in front of our consciousness, we
become identified with it. It is as foolish as when it happens to very small
children.
Have you tried it? Just put a
mirror before a very small child. He will look in the mirror very surprised,
with wide open eyes he will look: "Who is this fellow?" He will try
to catch hold, but he cannot catch hold of the person. And then, if the child
is intelligent, he will try to go to the back of the mirror: "Maybe the
child is hiding behind the mirror."
He is not yet aware that it is
only a mirror; there is no reality.
Mind is only a mirror: it
reflects the clouds of the world, it reflects all that happens around in the
world. Somebody insults and there is anger - it is a reflection. Somebody
beautiful passes by and it reflects - it is lust. And you immediately become
identified with it.
Keep a little distance... and
slowly slowly, you will find that the distance goes on growing. One day the
mind is so far far away, it does not affect you at all.
This is coming home, this is
buddhahood. Aes Dhammo Sanantano:
this is the inexhaustible law of life. If you can be a witness you will be able
to pass through a great transformation: you will know your real self.
The old maid sat stroking the
head of her pet tomcat and worrying about what she had missed all her life,
when all at once, a fairy appeared with her wand and told the old maid she was
ready to give her any three wishes she might make. The fairy asked that she not
get excited but take her time and decide on her wants carefully.
Her first wish was that she
might have a beautiful body. The wand was waved and her wish granted. When she
examined the result in the mirror, her second wish was immediate: that she be
given clothing to drape this wonderful figure. Her wish was again fulfilled
with racks of beautiful clothes made to fit perfectly.
When asked for the third wish,
she said she wanted a man.
Said the fairy, "You have
a beautiful cat there. How about making a man out of him for you?"
That was entirely agreeable,
and the tomcat became a man. The old maid was very happy. When asked if she
were entirely satisfied, she said she was. Then the fairy asked the man if he
were entirely satisfied. "Yes," said he, "but she won't
be."
"Why?"
"She forgot about that
trip to the veterinarian!"
You go on doing things, unaware
of what you are doing. You go on asking for things, unaware what you are asking
for. If all your desires are fulfilled you will be the most miserable man in
the world; it is good that they are not fulfilled.
The really religious person
never asks anything from God. He says, "Thy will be done, thy kingdom
come. Because what can I ask out of my unawareness? Whatsoever I ask is going
to be wrong." He asks only one thing: "Thy will be done."
Be meditative, be prayerful.
Remember these two sutras: "This too will pass away" - that will help
you to meditate - and the second sutra, "Thy will be done"; that will
help you to be prayerful. And when meditation and prayer meet, you are at the
highest peak of consciousness possible.
Enough for today.
